The Crossover Series 2 - Gathering of Evil
by Angelfire Blackwolf
Summary: *Written by Stilfire only* This takes place in an alternate universe..... where Jenova is up to her old tricks


**A gathering of evil**

**By Stilfire**

**Chapter 1 - A gathering of evil**

A pod shot through the infinity known as space. It looked very small on the outside but it was big enough to fit two humanoids. Inside was what looked like a beautiful woman. Her eyes were closed as if she was in a deep sleep. She wore a red dress which was tied up at the back. The pod didn't seem to have any controls, after all the Jenova species used mind control to operate their ships and pods. This particular pod was heading towards a planet known as Earth. . . 

**********

Heihachi Mishima looked at his notes and sighed in despair. If his sources were correct then his grandson, Jin Kazama, was still alive somewhere in New York. That meant Jin could very well cause problems in this years TEKKEN tournament, and since it was already confirmed that TEKKEN 4 was to go ahead, Heihachi couldn't very well go back on his word.  
Suddenly, the double doors facing Heihachi slammed open, and through them came a woman. She wore a red dress and her brown flowing hair reached her hips.  
"Guards!" shouted Heihachi. Long ago he had learnt never to underestimate beautiful women who suddenly burst into your office. The guards came in and both took an arm each. But both arms suddenly became tentacles, and both tentacles grabbed a guard each, and slammed the guards against each other.  
Heihachi looked on in horror, then said, " Who . . What are you?" The woman smiled evilly and said "You may call me Jenova. I have a proposal to make. . ."

**********

Voldo sat back in his throne and sighed. He finally had what he and his master wanted, he had what belonged to his master, The Soul Edge. It had been difficult, but worth it to please the master. Now Voldo would stay in this treasure vault and protect his masters' possessions until he died, and even then he would continue to watch over the vault.  
But something in Voldos' head was screaming out. It was the Soul Edge. It wanted blood. Voldo had an urge to go into the real world and ease his blood lust but he knew he had to stay and protect the vault.  
Voldo was pondering over what to do when he heard a click and then a thud. Someone had set off one of the traps near the entrance to the vault. Voldo smiled, why leave the vault when he could just wait for someone to challenge him, someone who wanted the Soul Edge for themselves. In short, a fool.  
Voldo got up and headed towards the entrance. By now he knew this vault inside out, in fact, even without the gift of sight he'd be able to draw a map of it. Suddenly he heard another trap go off, and then another, and then the last one, the poisoned arrows. But they didn't sound like they had actually hid anybody. This didn't really worry Voldo that much, even if the traps didn't work, it meant Voldo could take more pleasure in killing the fool.  
Then he heard faint breathing. There were two people, not one, a man and a woman. Voldo chuckled, he would enjoy killing them both. The man was grumbling, and his gruff voice indicated that he was around his seventies, which Voldo found strange since most people were incredibly lucky to live till they were sixty. The other one, the woman, kept telling him to keep quiet. She sounded about twenty-five, but at the same time Voldo had a feeling that she had lived a lot longer than that, her voice indicated great wisdom and knowledge.  
They finally reached Voldo and stopped. Voldo could sense the man shuffling nervously but he had a feeling that the woman was standing tall.  
The woman was the first to speak " Your name is Voldo, is it not?" she asked.  
"So what if it is?" Voldo replied. He could sense her scowling at him. He smiled "Yes, it is. I am the great Voldo. Protector of my masters' vault, keeper of the Soul Edge, and the most powerful person on this puny planet. Have you two come here to die, or to talk?"  
Jenova was impressed. Heihachi was nervous. Jenova said "Allow one to introduce myself and my college. I am Jenova-Infinity, I am of a planet known as JenovaZ. This is Heihachi Mishima, he is from this planets' future" Jenova put her hands on her hips.  
" Ahh, a time traveller, eh?" Voldo said mockingly, "and tell me, what have you come to me for, Alien?"  
" I want your Soul Edge weapon, if you don't mind" Jenova's arm slowly started turning into a tentacle, she expected a fight.  
"Oh but I am afraid I do mind, miss Jenova-Infinity. You see, this weapon belongs to me and my master, and we are not prepared to give it up to freaky aliens or Time travellers!"  
Finally Heihachi spoke " Then where is your master. I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement, after all, I'm a very rich man."  
Voldo laughed " Look around you fool. Gold and silver bars are used as bricks. Velvet are the curtains. The throne is made of the finest metals. You really think we will agree to you foolish offer?"  
Then Jenova spoke again " Ah, but I have a better proposal for you. I have the power to give your sight back."  
Voldo stopped dead, for a long time no-one said anything. Voldo remembered and still longed for, sight. The ability to see the shine of gold or the various greens of the leaves on trees, had always been the one thing he longed for. But this vault had been too dark when he came in it at fist, he had got so used to the dark it had become permanent. Then people had come to challenge Voldo, people with torches. He had light but didn't need it.  
"I'd be able to see?" he said in a soft whisper. Heihachi could barely tell what he was saying but Jenova could.  
"Yes, if you give us the Soul Edge and agree to help us"  
Voldo thought for a bit, and then had an idea. He would simply help them until they gave him his sight back and then he would take the Soul Edge back from them.  
" A. . Alright" he said "Here is the Soul Edge"  
Jenova said " Heihachi, you must take control of the Soul Edge" Heihachi looked surprised " Why me?" He didn't know whether to be pleased or scared.  
" Because Jenova's cannot hold the Soul Edge, that is why" She turned to Voldo " Now, Heihachi, go to Voldo and receive it" "Why can't I keep hold of it?" asked Voldo.  
"Because I don't trust you, that's why!" said Jenova as Heihachi relived him of his weapons.  
"So, er, What exactly is our plan then, Jenova?" asked Heihachi before Voldo had time to retaliate.  
" There is a race known as the Cetra we must destroy. They will try to stop you from being all powerful, Heihachi. You wouldn't want that now, would you?" Jenova showed Heihachi a fake smile, to weaken him.  
"No! absolutely not. Just tell me who the threat is, and I'll eliminate them!"  
Jenova smiled evilly "Good, very good. I just hope you're worthy of the weapon in your hands"  
Electricity and faint flickers of fire accumulated in the air around Heihachi. he could feel the power flowing into his body " Don't worry" he said " I won't fail you!" 

**Chapter 2 - A gathering of good**

Cid landed the Highwind near Nibelhiem. With him were Vincent, Yuffie and Reeve. Cloud and Tifa had the idea of a reunion, but Barret and Nanaki didn't live that far from Nibelhiem so they had decided on their own modes of transportation. Cid was currently building a rocket, with the help of all the townspeople in Rocket Town, and it was almost finished. Finally Cid would be able to go into space and possibly find new planets. He thought about taking a photo of his home planet for everyone out there ,but he wondered if they'd want to look at a planet scarred by all the Mako reactors and the various cities such as Midgar that Shin-Ra had created. He decided to take a photo anyway, if not for the evidence that he had been all the way up there.  
As he, Vincent, Yuffie and Reeve got out of the Highwind they saw Nanaki running and Barret on a chocobo coming towards them. When they finally reached the Highwind, Yuffie said "Hey, you came all the way here on that chocobo, and you didn't squash it?"  
Barret was furious "Why I ougta. . ."  
Vincent stopped them " Relax, this is supposed to be a reunion, not a brawl. Now c'mon, let's get to Cloud and Tifas' house before they assume we are not coming."  
As the rest started off, Cid sighed and shook his head. Everything was still normal.

**********

Jin Kazama, Hwoarang both held their stances. Both glared at each other. Both wanted to settle the score, once and for all. Hwoarang still couldn't believe Jin was alive, but he'd make sure he died this time, for sure.  
Jin hated Hwoarang. Jin knew that he was better than him, and yet every fight Jin had fought him in had been declared a draw. This time would be different, though. This time, Hwoarang would die.  
"FIGHT!" shouted the commentator, Jin moved in for the kill.

**********

Inside the tomb of an ancient evil creature known as Rothares, the spirit of the very same name bided it's time. *** Not long now *** it thought *** and soon I will be free again * **  
Then an old man crept in. The spirit smiled *** All the old man needs to do is touch it *** he thought.  
The old man crept to the sacred altar. It was a dull, stone altar but sacred never the less. There was a samurai sword on it. The old man reached for the sword nervously, then pulled back.  
*** Come on * **thought the spirit** * you know you want to * **  
Then the old man tried again. his hands slowly moved towards the sword. he became more frightened, the spirit more excited. Then the old man finally touched it. He picked it up and quickly ran in the other direction. The spirit burst out, first a swirling mist, the a tornado, and took form as an evil demon with piercing red eyes, arms like tree trunks but no legs or feet, just a mist where they ought to be. The demon looked at the old man, he had stumbled and was trying to get to his feet. the demon grinned and flew above him.  
"Leave him alone or you'll go back in the sword, instead of dying" The demon looked up to see a masked woman in a tight purple suit. " I am Taki, the demon hunter" She said no more, she didn't need to. The demon screamed and turned to fly but Taki jumped into the air, pulled out her dagger and sliced the demon in half before the spirit even thought about where it should fly to. The old man looked at Taki gratefully.  
"Thank you" he said getting up " I owe you a debt greater than this continent"  
Taki finished cleaning her dagger then sheathed it and said " You owe me nothing, old man. I fight for the greater good, and destroying demons is payment enough." She turned and walked away, followed by the cheers of the villagers.

**********

Jin was knocked to the floor by Hwoarangs' kick. He quickly got up and moved back, but something caught his eye. The black leather clad biker known as Paul Phoenix, he was next on Jins' list. He seemed to be watching the fight with interest, then Jin realised Forest Law was by his side. He'd kill them both together. Jin turned to Hwoarang, who seemed to be staring past Jin. Jin hazarded a glance behind him and noticed Yoshimitsu, leader of the Manji clan, coming in from the right, and Lei Wulong coming in from behind him. Jin looked left, Ling Xiaoyu was standing there watching, a puzzled look on her face.  
Jin looked back at Hwoarang, just in time, Hwoarang was about to do an axe kick on him. Jin dodged, and countered with an uppercut. But just as his fist was about to come in contact, the world around him went white.  
In the distance an old woman looked on . . .

**********

Amongst the villagers Taki noticed some people she had fought before - Li Long, Mitsurugi and even the young girl, Seung Mina were among the few. Then Taki noticed an old woman. She could have missed her if she wasn't looking that way but she stood out. Her clothes weren't the ordinary style of this village, or any other village Taki has seen. Her eyes glowed brightly and she held a staff. The strange thing was, at the same time she was old, she was young, middle aged, and not there at all. Her eyes suddenly closed. Then everything went white . . .

**********

Link stood at his guard post. This was the most boring thing he had ever done. He thought back to when he had been the Hero of Time and saved Hyrule. But time had been put back to normal, so technically speaking it had never happened. That made Link mad because he had the power to be a sergeant or a colonel, and he was just a plain soldier.  
Then he saw a strange woman coming towards him. She had brown hair, green glowing eyes and what looked like a staff. It was hard to say how old she was. One minute she was early twenties, then she was late sixties, sometimes she didn't seem to be there at all.  
" Erm, excuse me miss, you can't come here. it's restricted to the public, I'm afraid"  
The woman said nothing, but stopped nevertheless. She closed her eyes and Link noticed that the staff was actually floating, just before he became enveloped by a blanket of white light.

**********

Cloud and Tifa went out to greet their friends, everyone was here. Tifa said "I thought you wouldn't come"  
"course we came" said Barret "We're Avalanche, we stick together, right?"  
Everyone shouted 'Right' and, just as they turned to go into the house, Cloud noticed someone familiar.  
"Hey! Isn't that Aeris?"  
They all turned to look. It was indeed, Aeris. She had long brown hair, glowing green eyes and wore the same clothes as when Sephiroth had stabbed her. Her staff was floating, and she seemed to be shifting time constantly. Suddenly she closed her eyes.  
Cid dropped his cigarette, just as they became enveloped in white light he said "Son of a . . . . . ."

**********

Jin looked round. He was sure he had just heard someone say ". . Bitch", but he couldn't see anyone. Then all his enemies appeared in front of him, the exact same distance from him as they were before the white light. Then he saw more people appear, most were visibly carrying weapons. There was a young girl carrying a staff with a blade on the end, a man with blonde hair, a blue uniform and a sword strapped to his back, a teenage boy with green clothes who looked like an elf and a big bloke with a gun attached to his arm. Then Jin heard a whimpering and turned to see Hwoarang, floating on the ground in agony. Jin hated people who whimpered. he tried to kick Hwoarang and blacked out.

**********

Cloud ran, or rather drifted, to the two men. One was wearing a yellow jacket and pants that had a fire design on them. The other was wearing white clothes, like the ones used in martial arts. He said " What is your name?"  
"Hwoarang" said Hwoarang in agony, "His name is Jin Kazama" He got to his feet and then added " But not for very long!"  
Before anybody could react he knelt down and punched at Jins' face. Hwoarang was thrown back, but not like you would be in normal time - it happened as though they were all experiencing it in slow motion. Hwoarang slowly floated towards the ground, or what everyone assumed was the ground, and stopped moving.  
This was too much for Seung Mina. She had been transported here and seen two men get hurt by trying to hurt each other, all in the space of about five minutes. She fainted.  
Tifa ran over to the young girl. She wasn't wearing many clothes - a small skirt and a tiny T shirt was all she had on. She had a weapon that looked like a stick with a blade on the end. She reminded Tifa of Aeris, but younger.   
Further away she could hear Cloud curing the two men. They were foolish Tifa thought. Surely the one in white would have realised why the other had collapsed. She cast a cure spell on the young girl. Nothing happened. Then she used esuna and the girls' eyes started to open. Tifa smiled, the girl looked at her, then all around her and asked " W. .Where am I?" She sat up and waited for something positive to be said.  
"I'm not quite sure yet" said Tifa "But I am sure we'll find out soon. My name is Tifa, what's yours?"  
"Seung Mina" she said " Who are all the rest of those people?" " Well," began Tifa " I'm not quite sure on the names of some of them, but I'll give you the names of people I know. That man in blue is Cloud. That man with the gun on his arm is Barret" Seung Mina went pale at this point " Is he a demon?" she asked. "No, don't worry, it's just been attached to his arm instead of his real arm. His was shot off once when he was trying to help one of his friends. The tall man with the cape is Vincent, the ninja girl over there is called Yuffie, the man in the business suit is Reeve. That man with the spear is Cid. . ." Just then Nanaki padded over to Tifa " and this is Nanaki. He is the last of his race on our planet."  
Seung Mina's face brightened up after seeing Nanaki "Ahh, he is adorable," she patted him on the head, then started stroking him " I could eat him all up!"  
"Be warned," said Nanaki "That I don't take kindly to people 'eating' me up"  
Seung Mina jumped back " It . . I mean, he talked!"  
"Yes," said Nanaki "I come from a very intelligent race"  
Seung Mina smiled again and said "Ahh, that's cute"  
Cid was standing behind Cloud. He threw his cigarette stump on the floor and lit another one. What the hell was going on? Cid suddenly became aware of someone behind him. He turned quickly, to find a man in black leather standing, watching what was going on. "I wonder if those two will ever stop fighting" he said thoughtfully.  
"Probably not" said Cid " Do you know those two then?"  
" Jin and Hwoarang, of course" he said. Then he smiled "My name is Paul Phoenix, by the way, fighter and bike rider extraordinaire."  
"Cid Highwind, hero and astronaut extraordinaire" said Cid mockingly.  
Paul looked at Cid with interest "You're an astronaut?"  
"Kinda," said Cid " I was gonna lift off twice before now, but somethin' always happens to stop me. I'm goin' to try again, soon"  
Neither said anything for a bit, but then Cid asked "Do you want a fag?"  
Paul shrugged "Sure" he took the cigarette, put it in his mouth, then lit it with the lighter Cid gave him. He looked at the design on the lighter " That's your rocket then, Huh?"  
Cid didn't say anything for a minute then said " Yeah. One day I'm gonna' fly that baby to far off planets, and see the stars."  
"I wish you luck then, my friend" said Paul and wandered off.  
Mitsurugi looked down at the man helping out. He wore a blue uniform, had blonde hair and carried a sword which was so big he was surprised he could carry it on his back, let alone use it. Mitsurugi knelt down next to him and said " Hello my name is Heishiro Mitsurugi, and yours is . . .?"  
Cloud looked up and said " I'm a bit busy right now, could you go and talk to someone else?"  
Mitsurugi checked Jin's and Hwoarang's breathing and pulses then said " They are still breathing, they will live"  
Cloud stared at him a moment, then said "Well, mister Mitsurugi, my name is Cloud Strife, you may call me Cloud."  
Mitsurugi stood up and said"please, just call me Mitsurugi. Now all we need to sort out just where the hell we are and we need each others names, or it could be difficult getting out of here"  
Cloud stood up and looked around. A man wearing brown pants, a white shirt and a gun near his chest was walking towards him. "Hello gentlemen. My name is detective inspector Lei Wulong. Could you please tell me why you have brought all these martial arts masters to this strange place?"  
Cloud and Mitsurugi looked at each one another, then back at Lei "My name is Cloud, and this is Mitsurugi" Lei nodded to Mitsurugi as his name was mentioned "We have no more idea of where we are than you do, in fact we have only just met, and I don't even know who these two are" Cloud pointed in the direction of the two men sprawled on the ground, who were now moaning and coming back into consciousness.  
"Ah, yes," said Lei " Jin Kazama and Hwoarang. They've been at each others throats for quite a while now. So Cloud, do you know any of the rest of these people?"  
Cloud pointed out everyone he knew from Avalanche, telling Lei a bit about their adventures in the past. Then Lei turned to Mitsurugi, " And you?"  
" My full name is Heishiro Mitsurugi, but you may call me Mitsurugi. The young girl over there with . . What's her name? Tifa?, yes she is called Seung Mina. That man with the nunchukas is Li Long. I've had a few unpleasant run ins with him in the past. That young man in red is Hwang Sung Kyung. He was trained by Seung Minas' father. That masked lady in purple over there - very ravishing isn't she?" said Mitsurugi jokingly "She is Taki, the demon hunter. And that mass of muscle over there is known as Rock, although he has a real name it is not known."  
Cloud turned his attention from Mitsurugi to Lei " And what about you, Inspector? Anyone you know?"  
Lei looked as though he was not going to say anything, but then he said "Well, there's Jin and Hwoarang obviously, then there's Ling Xiaoyu, she's only sixteen. Forest Law, the son of the greatest martial artist who ever lived, apart from me of course." Lei smiled faintly "Paul Phoenix, admired the world over by kids for his fighting skills, and Yoshimitsu. He's the leader of a gang known as the Manji clan and is said to be from another planet."  
Then Cloud noticed another figure "Does anybody know him?" He pointed to a small teenage boy. He had a sword and blue shield strapped to his back, and he wore green clothes.  
"No!" said Mitsurugi and Lei in unison. Cloud decided to ask him who he was. " You two introduce everyone, I'll go see who he is."  
Cloud walked towards the boy, who was standing, alone in the middle of all the chaos. He turned to look at Cloud when he heard him approach. Cloud knelt down on one knee and said " Hello, what's your name?"  
The boy looked at him, a puzzled expression on his elven type face "Link" he said " Who are you?"  
" My name's Cloud. Do you know where we are?"  
Link looked around for a bit, then looked at Cloud and said " I have a vague idea, but I am not sure. Do you know why we are here?"  
"No" said Cloud " but where do you think we might be?"  
Link looked at Cloud for a bit, but Cloud felt that he was looking through him. Then he said " I think that we are in a distorted time continuum. I once went into one of these when I was the Hero of Time. if it is then everyone in it is going to be transported into a different time. It could be seven minutes into the future or seven years."  
Suddenly they all heard a voice. It sounded quiet, but at the same time it sounded loud. It was kind and peaceful, and angry and sad. **_" Welcome"_** It boomed **_"We are the voice of the planets. You have been brought together from your own worlds because you are the bravest and strongest warriors we could find. Evil has gathered together in the hope of ruling over the planets. You will all know at least one of them. There is Jenova-Infinity, Heihachi Mishima, who controls the Soul Edge, Voldo and we believe Ganandorf's spirit is going to try to coax them to release him from his prison in the trapped time dimensions. We must all act quickly, for time is not something we have in abundance"_**  
Jin and Hwoarang had recovered to hear this speech and now everyone was walking around lost. Cloud floated a level higher than everyone else. He didn't know how they would react, but here it goes . . .  
He took a deep breath, and got ready to shout.

**********

"QUIET!"  
Everyone held their ears with their hands, or in the case of Nanaki, paws. The volume of Cloud's voice was much louder in this universe than in real life. When the aftermath of the echoes died down the voice of the planets said **_"Thankyou Cloud"_**  
"You're welcome" said Cloud as if nothing had just happened.  
**_"Now" _**said the unnerving voice of the planets **_"We've established why you are all here, now heed our words, for this is what you must do. First of all, you must all stop fighting amongst each other"_** Jin quickly glanced at Hwoarang and scowled **_"Yes Jin, that includes you!"_** Jin looked around in surprise as a few eyes turned to look at him. Others just searched aimlessly, trying to see who looked most guilty.**_ "When you have all settled your differences you must go in search of these evil ones, for alas we are not entirely sure of where they are. We can only sense evil, not where it is. On your journey you may meet with some old friends, and no doubt old enemies. It will be tough, but we believe in you all. Together you will combat this evil."_**  
Barret looked up at nothing in particular, and said " Yo, wait a minute. we're gonna be travellin' to different planets, right? What we gonna do, take a taxi?"  
They all thought they heard a small laugh, and then the voice said **_"Do not worry, we will supply you with an advanced version of Cid's rocket"_** Cid beamed at this point **_"along with some supplies to keep you alive. We will now send you to the ship. Good luck" _**  
Suddenly everything faded away again and they all found themselves near Rocket Town. Cid looked at the rocket, to see it finished and better than ever.  
Jin pushed his way through the crowd of confused people. He pushed Cloud at one point, who turned, saw what was going to happen, and followed. Jin reached out to grab Hwoarangs' arm. His other fist was ready to punch, but his fist never reached Hwoarang. Jin turned, Cloud had hold of his arm. Jin tried to get out of the vicelike grip, he couldn't. Jin became furious "Get of my goddamned arm you goody-goody!"  
Cloud said nothing, his expression didn't change. He looked at Hwoarang, and grabbed his fist just before it came into contact with Jin's face. Cloud moved them both apart, still holding them both. Jin lashed out at Cloud, the grip tightened, and Jin had to force himself not to cry out in pain. Then Cloud said " I don't give a damn what you two think of each other. I don't care why you two want to fight. But don't do it until we've carried out this mission. The future of our planets is at stake here, do you understand?" Neither said anything " I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Cloud shouted.  
Jin looked up at Cloud "Who the hell do you think you are?" Then Hwoarang spoke "Yeah, we didn't ask to come here, we were forced to. I don't see why you or anyone else should tell us what we can and can't do!" Jin nodded in agreement, then shook himself, why was he agreeing with Hwoarang?  
Cloud shook his head and smirked slightly. Just like he was at their age, always looking for trouble. "Alright" he said letting them go "You two go ahead and fight, see if I care. Then the winner can wander round these fields all day while we go and save the planets. But this is my planet and I for one am not gonna' sit about watching it get destroyed" he turned and stalked off towards Rocket town, with most of the group at his heels.  
Jin turned to Hwoarang, Hwoarang turned to Jin. Jin said "As much as I hate to admit it, that @$$-hole is right"  
"Yeah" said Hwoarang, watching the group. Some of them turning to see if anything was happening. " Maybe we should both kick his head in instead"  
Jin smiled "Yeah, maybe" he agreed. They both turned and went to catch up to the rest of the group. On the way, Jin said " But I'm still a better fighter than you!"  
"Hey! Who do you think you're kidding, I can whip your ass ten times over!" They both carried on arguing in the distance, as the rocket gleamed in the morning sun.

**********

A big crowd was outside the rocket. Cid's head popped out of the hatch and shouted "Yo, guys, there's enough room in here for the entire Junon army, so get your skinny asses in here!" Some of them shouted abuse at Cid, whilst others climbed up the ladder, one by one. Cloud and Mitsurugi were waiting at the bottom of the ladder, to make sure everyone got on.  
"Of course, there is the problem of the team leader" said Mitsurugi trying not to shout "We'll just have to sort that out once we get on board. We'll also have to get to know one another properly and sort out anyone who is intent on fighting anybody."  
Once aboard, they all crowded into a big conference room. Once Cid set the rocket up they were ready to go.  
* Finally* thought Cid *My dream, but this time it's for real * He started the rockets, and the massive ship started moving, slowly at first, then faster. By the time they got through the atmosphere the rocket was going faster than the speed of light. Cid was delighted, this called for a celebration. He pulled out his biggest and most expensive cigar he owned. He bit the end off, put the cigar in his mouth, and lit it, then sat back to watch the stars go by. Then he had the feeling he was being watched. He turned to the doorway, to see Tifa, her hands behind her back, watching him quietly. She almost jumped out of her skin when she realised he was looking at her, and she was staring.  
"Oh sorry" she said nervously " It's just that you looked so pleased that I didn't want to ruin it for you. Cloud said that when you're ready, could you come along to the conference room, but I could just tell him that you want to spend some time here, if you want?"  
"No, it's o.k, I'll be along in a minute. Thanks" said Cid. Tifa smiled and walked back towards the conference room. Cid turned to look at the stars again. He sighed and then went off towards the conference room, after setting the ship to autopilot.

**********

Heihachi sat back on his throne. Although the Soul Edge had altered him, he still felt uncomfortable on this planet. It suited its name well - Venom - for it was very gaseous, and if it hadn't been for the spell Jenova had cast on him, he probably would have suffocated by now. But it wasn't just the planet that bothered him. He could sense another evil, on a higher plane than he and Jenova were on, and it wasn't the Soul Edges' spirit. It had much more evil power than that . . .

**Chapter 3 - The Kidnapping**

" . .Look, I wanna be the leader, I could beat the lot of you together!" shouted Jin. Hwoarang rolled his eyes and said " Oh please"  
Jin turned and stared daggers at Hwoarang " You wanna step outside?. . ." There were stifled giggles from most of the group as Jin realised his mistake. He bowed his head and muttered "Oh jes' shut up"  
Then Barret rised "Look, there's no doubt in my mind who should be leader. . " He turned and looked at Cloud and said "I think Cloud's the man fer the job!"  
Cloud smirked as he remembered when Barret used to argue with him over being the leader of Avalanche. "Hey, wait a god damned minute" said Jin looking up at Barret " Him, the leader? He can't even comb his hair!"  
Tifa looked surprised then and said "Hey, wait a min . ." But Cid interrupted her, jumped out of his seat and was standing in front of Jin before Tifa had time to finish. "Now look here you goddamn little freak. He may not look like much, but he is the best goddamned leader and friend I ever had the pleasure of knowin' and so help me god if you say another thing against any of my friends I'll shove this F*****g Venus Gospel up your @$$" Jin, in stunned silence, slowly sat back down, keeping his eyes on Cid. Then Yuffie piped in " I don't know you much, but from what I've seen, you're nothing but a loud mouthed kid!"  
"Oh yeah" shouted Jin, his rage renewed "Look who's talkin'!"  
This small argument then in turn triggered off a much larger argument involving the entire group. A brawl was about to ensue when suddenly, there was a loud crash. All eyes turned to the source. Cloud, now standing, his chair knocked back, was holding his Ultima weapon with both hands. The sword was embedded in the table, and, as if waiting for everybody's attention, a crack then emanated from the sword, going down the length of the table, and finally splitting it in two. Anyone in the way of the table jumped from their seats so as not to be crushed by the falling debris. Mitsurugi, who was seated opposite Cloud, was sitting down, stunned as both sides of the table collapsed to the ground.  
Then Cid daring to break the silence said "What a waste of a good table"  
Tifa not acknowledging the joke said "You nearly killed us!"  
"Sorry" said Cloud putting his sword away "but I had to get everyone's attention. Now listen up. If we can't agree, then we will have to take a vote. All those in favour of Mitsurugi being leader?" A few put up their hands including Seung Mina, Hwang and Li Long. " And all those in favour of Jin being leader?" No-one put up their hands, and hesitantly, Jin put up his own hand. Cloud smirked "How about Link?"   
A few people put their hands up, but Link hastily backed away and said "No way, I'm not cut out for being leader!" Cloud shrugged and said "Very well, anyone else want to be voted for?"  
No-one said anything, then Tifa said "Hey Cloud, what about you?" She looked round and said "Who wants Cloud to be leader?"  
Most of the group raised their hands including Mitsurugi. Cloud surprised asked "Mitsurugi, I thought you wanted to be leader?"  
"Ah," said Mitsurugi, lowering his had "but leadership carries many responsibilities, responsibilities I believe you have already experienced." Then he winked.  
"Well" said Vincent, finally speaking "in that case, Cloud is our leader."  
Cloud shrugged and started to speak, but then Jin shouted "Goddamn it!" and stormed out, punching the wall before he left. Then Hwoarang said "Ooh, Mr toughman, punching walls that can't fight back!"  
Everyone tried to stop themselves from laughing but they all found it hard. Hwoarang said " Just before we begin officially, can you tell us how you became so strong?" He sat back in his chair after they had moved the separated table, and stared at Cloud intently.  
"What do you mean?" said Cloud, seemingly mystified.  
"Don't be so modest" said Hwang speaking for the first time " We all saw you hold Jin and Hwoarang apart, and you split the table in half. I mean, how many of us can break a metal table?"  
Then Sophitia said "Yeah, was it a gift from the Gods?"  
Rock interrupted" I think he got his strength from the planet, after all, I did"  
" Well . .sort of" Cloud began " There used to be a powerful corporation known as Shin-Ra on our planet. They used to drain the life energy known as mako from the planet to produce power, despite their knowledge that it would eventually kill the planet." He sighed again and continued "They injected this mako into their soldiers to create a powerful army of extremely stong warriors, I was one of them. The most powerful was a general named Sephiroth, who went insane. He killed many people so that he could become a god. One of these people was a friend of ours called Aeris. While she called upon a holy magic to stop the black magic called Meteor, he had summoned to destroy the planet, he murdered her in cold blood." Cloud closed his eyes, to stop the tears from coming out. He clenched his fists, then opened his eyes and continued, a quiver in his voice "It happened so suddenly, that none of us had time to save her. But we finally managed to destroy Sephiroth, and the magic Aeris had called upon, stopped the end of the planet."  
There was silence in the conference room, all heads were bowed in sorrow. Then someone near the door faked a cough, it was Jin. All eyes were looking at him as he said " Cloud, I. . .I'm sorry for being such a jerk before. I didn't realise what you've been through, or else I wouldn't have said what I said. I feel like an idiot now, so please accept my humble apology." He bowed down as if in disgrace.  
Cloud nodded once and said " Thanks, Jin. I accept your apology" Then Cloud looked around at everyone, sighed and smiled slightly "Weel, we can't sit here feeling sorry all day, we've got a job to do!"

**********

"Jenova," said Heihachi in his deep, echoing voice "do you have the feeling that we are being watched by someone, someone on a higher plane of existance?"  
"Don't be so foolish, human" said Jenova, although she had the same strange feeling.  
"It's just that the Soul Edge senses another presense, more powerful than we could imagine!"  
Suddenly, a deep voice, that sounded far away, said *** Free me! I must get revenge! *** It wasn't so much a request as an order, and it was as though Heihachi couldn't help but ask "How do we free you?"  
Jenova had also heard the voice, but said "Wait a minute, if we free you, what do we get?"  
The voice laughed and said *** I promise you great power, we will each hold part of the Triforce when my plan is complete, as I already hold one piece *   
**Jenova's eyes sparkled "The legendary Triforce, supposedly made by the three most powerful goddesses known to anyone in the universe?!"  
*** Yes, that story is true * **  
Heihachi spoke again "What do we have to do?"

**********

Zelda smelt the rose she held and said "Aren't flowers beautiful, Father?"  
The King, who was talking to one of his advisers about Zelda's birthday preparations said "Yes, but none of them can compare to your beauty, Zelda"  
Zelda was about to respond, when she heard a loud noise above her. An armada of ships was above the castle, there were so many they blocked out the sunlight. One of them lowered and landed dangerously close to Zelda. She ran over to her father, just as a door on the ship opened. From it came a one eyed, six tentacled creature, the likes of which Zelda hadn't even seen in her nightmares. Guards ran towards the creature but were killed by some laser beam, which she hadn't seen before. Then it spoke.   
"Give us the princess Zelda and your people will be spared."  
The king stepped in front of Zelda and said "Never! You'll have to kill me and all my guards before you get her!"   
Then a group of guards came into the courtyard, surrounding Zelda to protect her.  
"Thank you for giving me the pleasure of killing you all, then"  
Suddenly the alien began killing all the guards, one tried to attack from behind but was shot down from one of the ships above. Finally, when there was only the King and Zelda remaining, the alien said "Are you going to be a wise king and move, or foolish and die?"  
The King looked down for a moment, he had something in his hand. He looked at the alien and said " Go to hell!!!" He threw the deku nut to the ground, sending a blinding light out which stunned the alien.  
"Run Zelda, I'll be right behind you" the King shouted. Zelda, not thinking turned and ran as fast as she could. She ran into the castle and through the corridors, pushing past everyone in her way. She couldn't stop, she had to find a place to hide . . .

**********

Krinost rubbed his eyes with his tentacles. That King was gonna pay dearly for that little attempt. Finally, his vision became clear, and he focused on the king. "You should have run while you had the chance" said Krinost raising his gun.  
"Wait!" said the King "would you attack an unarmed man with a gun?"  
"Well" siad Krinost "that's never bothered me before!"  
"You're a coward, then" said the King calmly.  
"How dare you call me a coward!" said Krinost  
"Well then prove it" replied the King.  
The King pulled out his sword from its sheath. The handguard was pure gold but the sword certainly wasn't just for show.  
Krinost said "Very well, we'll do it your way" He threw down his gun and took a sword from one of the dead guards. " What is it you humans say? On guard?"  
Kinost attacked first, stabbing at the King, but the sword was knocked out of the way. The King retaliated with a slash from left to right, not his most powerful attack, as he was right handed.  
Then Krinost laughed and said " You might as well give up now, I'm more powerful than you!"  
The King saw his chance and swung at Krinost, he backed away quickly but not fast enough. The tip of the King's sword slit Krinost's left cheek, which earned a small cry from the alien who fell to his knees.  
The King triumphantly said "You may be more powerful with your advanced weapons, but on my turf you're no better than I am"  
Krinost looked up and sneered, his right hand was on his laser. Then he said "I will always be more powerful, old man" As he said this, krinost pulled out his laser and fired at the King, then he stood up and said "Give my regards to Chineos, God of Hell" He pulled his sword back, then thrust it into the king's stomach. As the King's head fell back he said " You'll never win, our hero is out there, and he will get revenge!"  
Krinost laughed at the king and said "I doubt it" but deep inside Krinost knew he was right. He left the sword in the king as he fell back. Then through the comm cuff on his right arm, he said "Find the princess, she can't have gone far. Tear up the entire planet if you have to!"

**********

Zelda got to the bridge outside Hyrule castle. She was completely out of breath, and she was scared. What had happened to her father, where could she go now?   
She decided to hide under the bridge. A little hesitantly, she dropped into the ice cold water, she couldn't let them find the Ocarina of Time and the Temple of Time. That would give them access to time travel. She began digging a hole with a flat stone she found, and then put the Ocarina in the hole and covered it up. She then touched her pendent, her mother had given it to her before she died. it had magic in it, the magic wasn't powerful, but it was at least good for some protection.  
Suddenly she heard the voices of the alien she had seen before and two others, she put the pendent out, facing toward their backs, as she could see them and willed a bolt of lightning to fire.  
One alein next to krinost shouted "Watch out, Sir" and they both jumped out of the way in time. She fired another, this time hitting one of them. Krinost quickly shot at her, shooting the pendent out of her hands and into the water, where it sank to the bottom.  
Zelda tried to recover it but when she looked back Krinost was next to her. The last thing she saw was him bringing the but end of his gun down on her head, before she blacked out.

**********

Cloud was seated at the new table, as were the others, talking about which planet they should stop at. They were in a mysterious system, the most sinister planet being Venom. Something troubled Link, however. He was safe so far, as safe as you could be in a rocket, and yet he was scared. He didn't even know where the fear was from. Also, his legs and feet felt cold and wet, but there was no water and he had become exhausted in the last fifteen minutes. Suddenly the fear became stonger and then . .   
" AHH" Link cried and colapsed. The last he saw was Tifa and Li Long looking down at him in horror and confusion.

**********

Hyrule the once thriving land, where dreams came true for so many of the folk that lived there, had been turned into a barren wasteland. The town around the castle had been burned to the ground, its people shot down by aliens with weapons the people never knew could be possible. The field outside the town had been bombed, destroying trees and life, and the ranch in the centre. The trees of Kokiri forest were burned, although most of the Kokiri children had managed to get into the Lost woods to hide, and had found a secure place to stay. However, this didn't bother Krinost in the slightest " Call Jenova, tell her we've got the princess, immediately" He took in a deep breath and said "Ah, I love the sweet smell of victory" He got into his ship, which rose to rejoin the armada, setting off back to Venom.

**Chapter 4 - The Lylat System**

Tifa and Seung Mina both looked down at Link, who they had put into a bed to recover. "How did he just fall unconscious like that?" Seung Mina asked.

"I don't know" said Tifa, dabbing a wet towel on his forehead "maybe he's dehydrated"

Then Sophitia and Rock came in. Sophitia had a bundle of towels and Rock was carrying a huge metal barrel. 

" Towels and water" Sophitia said looking at Link all the time "are you sure he'll be alright?"

"Yeah," replied Tifa "I think he's just dehydrated"

Rock, putting two and two together, lifted the barrel over Link and was about to tip it over, when Tifa stopped him. "Whoa, I don't think that would work Rock!"

Rock lowered his head, and the barrel, and said "I was only trying to help"

Tifa looked sympathetically at Rock and said "I know, but as I said it won't do much good. Don't worry, we know you mean well"

Suddenly the rocket rumbled, nearly knocking them off their feet. "Whoa, what was that?" asked Seung Mina, trying to regain her balance.

"I don't know" Tifa replied, looking around the room "but you can bet there's more where that came from!"

**********

Cid ran into the control room, getting knocked around by the second rumble, and looked through the huge window. A huge white battleship loomed just ahead, some smaller ships - Cid guessed about four or five - were circling the rocket and firing at it.

"Goddamn it" shouted Cid as Cloud, Vincent, Jin, Lei and Mitsurugi came in.

"What's wrong?" asked Lei, then he noticed the ships outside and said "Good god! What the hell is that thing?"

Suddenly on the window, the screen changed and the face of what looked like a half fox, half human looked at them, as though they had just insulted him. Then it spoke in a language no-one understood "Wydsk, udhdl odjrgh djdu ruaol?"

Cid said, slightly confused "What the hell did that thing just say?"

They all looked at each other, as though they all thought one of them might know, then Vincent said "Maybe is we just show them that we're not hostile, and try using sign language, they'll realise that we mean well"

"Good idea" said Mitsurugi "but maybe Nanaki may understand them?"

"I'm afraid not" said Nanaki, who was mysteriously standing behind them, and had been for quite a while "I couldn't understand them at all!"

Jin said "Well, it's worth a try using sign language" As he did the various signs, all be it very poorly, he also said them. "We" he said, spreading his arms out to the rest "are good" Then he smiled widely and put his hands out, one on each side of his face, trying to mimic a smiling sun "We" he said, once again spreading his arms out "want peace" He did the peace sign, showing the alien his two fingers. At this point the alien, taken aback, shouted something that sounded hostile, and his face went off the screen.

"I don't think that was a good thing" said Lei just as the ship rumbled again.

"Goddamn it, what now?" asked Cid "We're gonna die before we even find the evil, never mind destroy it!"

"Well," said Nanaki, in deep thought "This ship doesn't have weapons, and we can't cast magic outside the ship, but what about if we cast magic on the ship?"

"Wha . .Oh you mean cast barrier magic on the rocket?" said Vincent as the rocket rumbled again.

"Exactly" replied Nanaki "It will give us time to get out of here, if we use maybe Big guard and Shield"

Mitsurugi, looking confused, said "Wait a minute, you can use magic?"

"Yeah" said Cloud "But we've no time to explain yet, let's just do the magic quick"

Nanaki nodded in acknowledgement then shouted "Shield!"

Cloud using the power of his enemy skills materia, shouted "Big guard!"

**********

In the conference room, everyone was silent. No-one had anything to say. Barret was bored stiff, so he decided to break the silence and said "Goddamn it, start talkin' you bunch a no good, lazy, good fer nothin's"

hesitantly, everyone started murmuring. Paul turned to Law and said "I wonder what's got him in a twist?"

Law shrugged and said "Dunno, but he's right, we're gonna have to get to know these people, after all, we're in the same team, aren't we?"

"Yeah" said Paul, staring at nothing in particular "I'm gonna talk to that Barret fella, you just wander around if you want to"

Law watched Paul walk off, then looked round. As he looked at each individual, he noticed one young girl was looking at him. She had slightly messy hair and wore shorts and a T-shirt. She also struck Law as looking a bit like a ninja, and he thought she looked quite cute too. She realised he was looking at her and turned away. Law smiled and walked over to her.

"Hi!" he said, taking a seat next to her, then he stopped and said "Is this seat taken?"

Yuffie looked at him and said "No, not really, after all, it's a free count, . . I mean rocket"

Law smiled at the joke and said "My name's Forest Law, nice to meet you"

"Yuffie Kisaragi" said Yuffie staring into his eyes.

Paul and Barret both watched from a distance. Barret almost in a whisper, said "Jesus, I never thought she'd end up goin' out with anyone with more than half a brain cell!"

Paul, watching them both, replied "Yeah, kids eh?"

Yoshimitsu looked round, out of all these people, not one of them was of his own race. Then he noticed someone behind him. he turned and said "Ah, you're Li Long, aren't you?"

Li Long said nothing, but looked at Yoshimitsu in the eyes. Then he noticed the sword Yoshimitsu had, and said "You might need that thing very soon"

Yoshimitsu turned to see if anybody was watching and said "Why, are you going to attempt to kill me?"

"No" said Li Long "but she might" he pointed to Taki who was looking around as though the world was her enemy. Yoshimitsu, still looking at her said "I'll keep an eye out for her, thank you"

Li Long said nothing but instead turned and walked over to Paul and Barret. "Hello" he said in a level voice "My name is Li Long, and you two, I believe are Barret Wallace and Paul Phoenix?"

they both nodded in acknowledgement and Barret said "I hope you's is both gonna watch your allies backs when we come to a fight, no attacking your own side!"

Both Paul and Li Long looked taken aback, and Paul said "Would I?" in a mocking tone of voice.

Then Vincent, Nanaki, Jin, Seung Mina and Sophitia came in and Vincent announced "Okay everyone, we should be fine now, we've cast some barrier magic on the ship to stop the ships attacking us"

"If I could get a hold of them I'd bust their @$$e$" said Barret to Vincent, earning a few stifled giggles. Vincent just smiled and looked around. He noticed quite a few people were sitting on their own. He walked over to Reeve and said "Hey, why don't you go talk to someone?"

"Nah" replied Reeve, his head leaning on his arms "No-one would wanna talk to me"

"Well" said Vincent, noticing Sophitia "I think Sophitia may be your kind of person. She's kind hearted, I bet she'd have loads to talk to you about"

Reeve looked at Vincent and said "d'ya think?"

"Yeah sure" said Vincent "There's not much could go wrong is there?"

"Yeah" said Reeve smirking "You're right, I'll give it a go"

"Good man" said Vincent as Reeve walked towards Sophitia * Now who else? * he thought.

Sophitia, who was fiddling with her pendent her father had given her, thought about the God of her planet. He wasn't here to watch over her now, or was he? He had once said he would always be watching her. She suddenly felt as though someone was watching her. She looked up to see a man in a business suit and brown hair.

"Hi there" he said a little uneasily " My name's, er, Cait Sith, I, er, mean my name is Reeve"

Sophitia smiled and said "Sophitia Alexandra. Why did you just say Cait Sith?"

A little hesitantly, Reeve said "Well, er, that was kind of what I called myself when I was part of, er, Ava, er, lanche. I had a robot I controlled called, er, Reeve, I mean, Cait Sith." Reeve could tell that all his conversation was doing was making Sophitia need to laugh. She was trying hard not to, simply because she didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it was next to impossible.

Reeve stood up then and said "I, er, I'm sorry for wasting your, erm, time miss Alexandra. I'll just go now"

He turned to walk away but felt her hand on his shoulder and she said "No, wait please, I don't mind at all. You're just a little nervous, that's all. Why don't we just sit down and talk about ourselves."

Reeve smiled slightly and sat, he started to tell her about when he was in Shin-ra.

"Well, mr Valentine" said Taki, at the other end of the conference room "you're a very humble man. But why do you look like a vampire?"

"That was Shin-ra's fault" said Vincent "they experimented on me, and please just call me Vincent."

"Very well, Vincent" said Taki, smirking slightly "and if this is your idea of trying to chat me up, you need to start again, from scratch!"

Vincent, taken aback, replied "Nonsense, I was simply trying to get to know you, that's all"

"Yeah, right!" said Taki, smiling.

"Ah, he's so cute, and so warm and furry" said Seung Mina, who was tickling Nanaki behind the ears.

"Please" said Nanaki in his most demanding voice "It's insulting to think that you believe I'm here for you to cuddle and stroke!"

"Alright" said Seung Mina sulkily "I won't tickle you behind the ears and stroke you"

Hwang sighed, rolled his eyes and then said to Hwoarang "and to think that my master wanted me to marry her"

"Oh, I don't know" said Hwoarang watching her pretending to sulk "I'd marry her any day"

"Yes" agreed Hwang "but she acts so childish sometimes. I'm surprised that she can actually use that weapon she's got"

"Oh very well" said Nanaki, pretending to give in "you may tickle me behind the ears if you wish"

Seung Mina delighted, gave him a big cuddle and continued stroking him. Although he pretended to be fed up however, everyone knew he loved the affection Seung Mina was showing for him.

**********

In the control room of the rocket, Cid stared at the object on the screen. It was small and red and had just been shot out of one of the smaller ships.

"What in God's name is that thing?" asked Cid

"It looks like some kind of rocket or missile" replied Lei.

"If it is, we're in deep S**T"

"I wouldn't know" said Mitsurugi " It's too futuristic for me"

Cloud laughed and said "I'm gonna have to teach you how to use materia"

Mitsurugi smiled "Interesting"

"Oh my god!!!" Cid shouted as the megabomb exploded. Suddenly the rocket rumbled more than ever, and an alarm sounded in time to a flashing light on the map of the rocket. "One of our engines is F*****d, we're gonna have to land somewhere to repair it." shouted Cid

"What about that green planet, it looks barely habitable, but it might just do!" said Cloud "in fact, if we give everyone a star pendant each, it might be possible to breath down there."

"Right" said Cid "Well, hurry up, I'm heading there now!"

**********

Cloud and Mitsurugi ran into the conference room, their hands full of pendants.

"Everyone, put one of these on" said Cloud bluntly, handing them out " We're going to crash land on a gaseous planet, so hold onto somethin' quick!"

"Crash land?!" shouted Xiaoyu "What d'ya mean crash land?, I thought Cid knew what he was doing!"

"yeah," said Jin, who was sitting next to her "and I thought we were shielded as well!"

"They must have worn off" said Nanaki "I'll put shield back on, just in case"

"Right" said Cloud as Nanaki started the spell, he turned to Mitsurugi and said "Mitsurugi, go to the infirmary quick and give the others one each, including Link, just in case. And tell them what's going on!"

"Ok" said Mitsurugi "I'm gone"

Cloud turned and looked through the porthole at Venom. "Cid," he whispered "I hope you know what you're doing!"

**********

Back in the control room, Cid jumped back into the pilots seat and said "Hey, Lei, do me a favour, take this materia" Cid threw a time materia to Lei, who caught it with one hand "and cast Haste on me, oh yeah, and you'll need this to cast cure on anyone if the worst comes to the worst" said Cid "Oh yeah, and don't go gettin' yourself killed either"

Lei looked at the materia and said "but how do I work this stuff"

Cid said, in a sarcastic tone "Use your inner self to bring out the magic from within yourself"

Lei looked down at the green orbs, puzzled.

"Just shout haste or cure, you goddamned fool!!!"

Lie looked at the Time materia, he hesitantly pointed the orb at Cid and said "Haste!" Green fire emanated from the cold metal floor, surrounding him. Lei looked round in panic, then at Cid, who was looking at the screen and not paying any attention to him, but Lei noticed he was suddenly working much faster, and had a very faint red glow.

"Wow!" shouted Lei "this stuff's amazing!"

"Yeah, Yeah!" said Cid quickly "Can't talk, no time, need speed!" Suddenly the rocket was very close to Venom and going straight down. "Lady Luck, don't fail me now!!" shouted Cid, easing the rocket back so then it could land on it's undercarriage.

Lie then became aware of some muttering, and he realised it was Cid murmuring under his breath "Jesus Christ, oh ^&$($% B*******d. Oh my god damn it. We're all gonna F******g die, I don't b. F******g lieve I let Cloud talk me into this F****n' mess"

Lie smiled despite himself and held on as securely as he could to another chair, which was nailed to the floor. The rocket began to land on the planet, skimming the ground and knocking rocks and bringing up dust along the ground. 

In the conference room, Jin noticed Xiaoyu get knocked into him. She was about to loose her grip and fly to the other side of the room when Jin, one hand holding the doorframe, grabbed her arm. She turned, looked into his eyes and said "Hmm, looks like I owe you one, Jin Kazama"

"Don't mention it" said Jin smiling.

Vincent, not far off, watched Jin and Xiaoyu as he held Taki with one arm and held a metal railing with his other hand.

"You ok?" he asked her.

"With a gentleman like you, who wouldn't be?" asked Taki with a smile.

"Woah!" cried Yuffie as her hand slipped. Cloud, too far away to help shouted "Yuffie!" just as Law caught her round the waist. They both looked at each other for a long moment then Law said "Er, you're gonna have to be more careful in future"

"Yeah" said Yuffie, still looking at him "Thanks"

**********

As the ship came to a halt, Cid began praying thanks to god. With his eyes closed he said "Dear god, I'm alive, thankyou god, for letting me live!" He took a cigar from his pocket and lit it. He bit the end of it and started smoking it, reverently.

Lei, obviously in shock, said "Hey, pass me one of those things Cid, I need one!"

**********

In the conference room, everyone stood up, a few of them brushing themselves off, others checking to see if their team-mates were alright. Then Cloud realised something. "The infirmary" he shouted to himself. He ran out of the door and ran as fast as he could down the corridor. At the lift he skidded to a halt and bashed the button. The lift opened almost immediately and Cloud literally jumped in. In a panic he stabbed at the button that said 'four' with his index finger. Then he began pacing the floor of the lift. * Please god * he thought to himself * don't let them be dead *

**********

Tifa put her head up. She was holding the bed, and Link, to make sure he didn't get hurt. Rock had held onto her and Mitsurugi., which had been easy due to his strength.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked

"Yes" said Mitsurugi "No doubt Rocks' fine as well. hey, where's Rock gone?"

Rock had recovered before everyone else, and was looking through a window in the corridor when Cloud came out of the lift.

"Rock, is everyone alright?" Cloud asked as he ran into the infirmary.

"Yeah" was the reply "they're fine" but Rock didn't turn as he said this, just looked out of the window.

"Thank god, you're all okay" said Cloud, relieved to see them all standing "he hasn't recovered yet, then?" Cloud referred to Link.

Tifa shook her head, then Rock said "Guys, come take a look at this!"

Cloud and Mitsurugi both went over to the window and looked outside, in horror. The entire rocket was surrounded by monsters.

"Jesus Christ" shouted Mitsurugi, astonished "what now?"

Cloud looked at Tifa and Link, then said "Right, Mitsurugi, Rock, stay here and watch Tifa and Link. If anything comes in, don't hesitate to kill it!"

"Right!" they both said in unison as Cloud ran back to the lift.

**********

"Out of the frying pan, into th F******g fire!" shouted Cid, jumping out of his seat. "How'm I supposed to fix the engine with those things out there?!"

Then Cloud stopped at the door "Lei, Cid follow me!" he said simply and carried on, with Cid and Lei close behind.

**********

In the conference room, everyone crowded together in silence, and looking at Cloud, who was standing on the table.

"Okay, listen up" said Cloud quietly "Mitsurugi and Rock are watching Tifa and Link in the infirmary, the rest of us need to get out there" Cloud pointed to one of the portholes "and cover Cid while he repairs the engine" Then Cloud took the huge bag that the weapons were in and said "Anyone without a weapon, get one, quick!"

Law, Xiaoyu, Jin, Paul and Hwoarang went to the weapons. Law found a pair of nunchukas, like the ones Li long had. Xiaoyu found a staff, the same staff Aeris used, Cloud remembered. Jin found a pair of gloves he liked the look of. Cloud noticed them to be the Gods Fists, gloves that gave the wearer great power when in trouble.

Paul was offered a huge sword by Cloud, but for obvious reasons declined Clouds' offer. However a searching the bag. and an offer by Cid, and Paul found a spear he liked the look of.

Hwoarang, not wanting something that would reduce his speed in fighting, found two light short swords, and did a few practice swings with them. When the others had chosen, Hwoarang said "Let's go kick butt!"

"Yeah" shouted the others in unison, and they all set off for the door.

**********

The door to the rocket opened, and from it came a rope ladder, with metal rungs. But none of the creatures had time to react before Yuffie and Law jumped out. When they landed Yuffie threw her shuriken, which went through several monsters before returning to her hand, and Law swung his nunchukas into one monster, which chopped it's head off, before doing a flying kick into another one. Taki jumped out holding her dagger in front of her, and slicing a monster in half, while at the same time Vincent fired at some more as he fell through the air, and landing as though the fall was nothing. Next came Barret and Lei, firing at monsters the moment they came into view. As others dropped and landed, they all attacked in their own way. Yoshimitsu helicoptered out, landing neatly. Cloud used trine to get loads more monsters and Nanaki used Fire 3 burning many more. Finally when everyone was out, apart from Hwang, who was at the top to make sure nothing got through, Cid said "I'll lead the way"

They all slowly followed Cid, attacking monsters that got too close, but when they got there, half the group was missing.

"Hey" shouted Yuffie to on-one in particular "Where's Law and Paul, even Barrets missing!"

In fact Law, Paul, Barret, Vincent, Seung Mina, Reeve and Sophitia had all wandered away from the rest of the group, and were now trying to fend off the sea of creatures they were lost in.

"Ultimate End!" shouted Vincent, the knights of the round table at least giving them some breathing space. Meanwhile, Laws' nunchukas were flying around at supersonic speed, felling hoards of monsters that dared fill the space near him. 

Paul mostly used his spear as a pole, and did a flying kick into ten of the creatures. Barrets never-ending barricade of bullets protected anyone in trouble, but all was to no avail, they just kept on coming.

One monster attacked Sophitia, but its huge claws only found their way to her shield, as she retaliated with a stab of her sword. But then another grabbed her sword arm, and was about to swing its claw at her when it suddenly went stiff. Its arm dropped, its grip loosened and it fell to the ground revealing Reeve, tapping his night-stick on his left hand.

"Thanks" said Sophitia "I always used to think someone was watching over me, now I know I'm right."

Then, Seung Mina stuck her nagatina into the ground, forced herself into the air, landing on the other side and brought it down on a row of enemies.

"We can't keep this up" she shouted to Vincent.

"We'll just have to make our way back to the rocket!" he replied "Everyone follow me"

**********

"Finished!" shouted Cid, moving away from the engine and stabbing a monster "Now all we need to do is get the others and get outta here!"

"I have a suggestion" said Yoshimitsu, surprisingly calmly in the noise "I'll helicopter up and see if I can find them."

Cloud was just about to compliment Yoshimitsu on his idea, but he had already gone.

"I think he's dangerous" said Li Long, referring to Yoshimitsu "I mean, he's a demon"

"Look, we're all supposed to be working together here!" said Cloud, just before the noise began. It was like a loud buzzing, but also sounded like a blazing fire at the same time. It got louder and louder every second, until even the monsters had to close what ears they had. And then, through the door of a temple not far away, came first Jenova, then Heihachi holding the Soul Edge and guards surrounding them.

"I" said Jenova, above the now silent battlefield "am the omnipotent entity known as Jenova-Infinity. This is Heihachi Mishima, my colleague."

"The Soul Edge!" shouted Taki and raced towards Heihachi "I'm gonna smash that weapon to pieces!!" she screamed as she leaped into the air, her dagger outstretched. But as she came near Heihachi, she was suddenly knocked back and Heihachi laughed "Isn't magic wonderful" he shouted as he raised one sword for the killing blow.

Just as the sword was about to hit Taki, it was stopped. A green glowing sword was in the way, and Yoshimitsu said "Fear the breath of the demon"

Puzzled Heihachi said "What the . .?"

Suddenly Yoshimitsu breathed out a purple cloud of acid, which caught Heihachi full in the face. He dropped the Soul Edge, and started clawing at his face.

"Fool!" screamed Jenova, as a guard recovered the weapons "they nearly had Soul Edge then!"

Just as she finished the sentence, a huge armada of ships came into view. The biggest landed, and Krinost jumped out, shouting "Hurry, into here!"

Jenova turned to Yoshimitsu and laughed "farewell demon" she shouted, then turned and ran, the guards and Heihachi in tow.

Yoshimitsu started to chase after them, but was stopped by Taki "Don't worry, we'll get another opportunity"

Yoshimitsu turned back to the ship, then realised the creatures had all gone, leaving only the members of the team scattered about.

"Hey" said Hwoarang, looking around "Where have they gone? There aren't even any dead bodies."

"D'ya get the feeling we were fighting something that didn't exist?" asked Jin to no-one in particular. Suddenly, the planet shook and three enormous monsters loomed into view, blocking the way to the rocket. "Dear god!!" shouted Jin "they were all running from these things!"

One of the monsters, which had three claws on each hand and an eyeball on it's left shoulder, swung at them, claws outstretched. Ling Xiaoyu and Law had to duck, and Yuffie, from slightly further back, threw her shuriken at it. But the monster simply knocked it away, and it landed harmlessly on the floor next to her.

"Damn!" she said "But at least we've got materia" 

One of the other monsters had tentacles, and an eyeball on the end of an antenna protruding from its head. The other had wings, and claws where it's hands and feet should have been. Yuffie deciding that her summon materia would be the most powerful magic to use, shouted "Tsunami!"

A serpent appeared as the others moved out of the way. Then a huge wave of water crashed into the three creatures. Two of them were badly hurt, but the water monster was refreshed by the wave and lashed out a tentacle, which knocked Yuffie into Cloud and Cid.

"I'm gonna pump that thing full of lead" shouted Barret, unloading everything he had on the water monster.

Meanwhile Vincent, Taki, Jin, Xiaoyu, Cloud and Cid were fighting off the winged monster, which snapped its lion like jaws at them. Cloud dodged out of the way, retaliating with a series of powerful attacks, which almost killed it. But then it did an extremely powerful magic attack like Ultima except that it was red and yellow and cured it.

"Jesus Christ" said Jin "No more Mr. nice guy . . .DEVIL!" Slowly, Jin's face began to transform, horns grew from his head, his eyes turned completely red and his entire body turned lavender. Wings ripped out from his back and his fingers grew massive claws. DEVIL-Jin then flew up to the creatures face, and slashed it's eyes with his claws. 

Meanwhile, Vincent had seen this and decided to make a transformation of his own. "CHAOS" he shouted, and transformed into a hideous beast similar to DEVIL-Jin. CHAOS-Vincent then ran up to the creature and started attacking it with his most powerful hits.

"Magic Breath!" shouted Cloud, sending fire, lightning and water at it finishing it off. Both DEVIL-Jin and CHAOS-Vincent then moved onto the water creature, DEVIL-Jin using laser on the creature, halving its energy.

Meanwhile Hwoarang, Lei, Li Long, Nanaki, Seung Mina, Reeve, Sophitia and Paul were taking on the monster with the eye on its shoulder. Seung Mina hit out at it, but it knocked her weapon aside, forcing her to retreat after it. Reeve covered Seung Mina by prodding it with his night-stick, which made the eye on its shoulder go bloodshot. It then lunged at him with its claws, but instead of hitting Reeve, who ducked, it slashed Cloud, who had just ran over to help. In shock, Cloud collapsed to the ground. Reeve looked down at Cloud, then, with anger in his heart, ran at the creature. As he ran, he set the night-stick up to full power, then he jumped at the monster, pointing his night-stick at it. the night-stick, electricity surging from it, hit the eyeball.

The creatures clothes, a ripped white shirt and jeans, set alight and the creatures actual eyes went completely white. By the time Reeve let go of the button, the monster fell backwards completely charred and smelling of burning flesh.

Nanaki, not having time to congratulate Reeve, shouted "Ifrit" sending the fire god to destroy the last monster, which let out a horrific screeching noise before falling forward onto its face.

Without spending any time saying anything, Lei held out his materia and said "Cure" A cloud of green dust appeared over Cloud and faded into him. Cloud groaned, then sat up and observed the aftermath. "Oh my god" groaned Cloud "Someone give me the number of that truck!"

**********

Rock leaned his axe on his shoulder, turned away from the window and sighed "They get all the fun" he said to Mitsurugi "When do we get to kick ass?"

Then Cloud came out of the lift, and as he came down the corridor, said "Job well done, eh guys? how's Link doin'?"

"Hey Cloud" said Mitsurugi, putting his sword away "Next time there's a big fight, can we go out as well?"

Cloud laughed and said "Sure thing" as he went into the infirmary.

Tifa looked up, she was holding a wet towel on Links' head.

"How is he?" asked Cloud looking down at Link.

"He'll live, I've used a few cure spells and regen on him. In fact, I think he's coming around now."

Link opened his eyes and looked round as if he didn't know where he was, then said "Where am I?"

"Relax" said Tifa "You're in the infirmary in Cid's rocket, you collapsed in the conference room earlier"

Link closed his eyes and said calmly "I had a dream" he opened his eyes and looked at Tifa "My planet's major cities and towns have been burnt to the ground"

Tifa dabbed his head with a wet towel and said "Don't worry, it was only a dream"

"No" said Link, shaking his head "This was more than a dream. It was more like a premonition of some kind. I know also why I collapsed."

Tifa looked at Cloud and said "Why?"

Link sat up despite Tifa's advice to stay lying down, then said "When I was a child I lived in a place called Kokiri Forest. The children, there were no adults, never grew old, and would never die of old age or natural causes. I was thought to be one of them, but I found that I was really left there by my mother, so that when I became old enough I would find out that I was destined to be the Hero of Time. Ganondorf, an evil man, wanted to take over the world, and succeeded for a time. An ancient artefact , the Triforce, was split into three pieces, I held one, Princess Zelda, who told me about this, held another, and Ganondorf held the third. I finally managed to defeat Ganondorf, sending him into a time prison, which looks just the same as the white area we started off in, and restored peace and time to how it should have been. But now Ganondorf has enlisted the help of more evil doers . . ."

"No doubt Jenova and Heihachi!" added Cloud.

Link continued ". . .To kidnap princess Zelda. Ganondorf planned on taking the Ocarina of Time from her, getting those helping him to play the Song of Time to free him! Fortunately, because of our link with the Triforce, I can understand anything going on with Princess Zelda. She has hidden the Ocarina, and I know where to look, so we need to get to my home planet . . ."

**********

"That's easier said than done!" said Cid, when Cloud and Link explained the predicament "What, you expect me to just pull out a road map and say ' oh there it is Hyrule, all I need to do is take a turn at the next star system' ?"

Cid turned to look at the screen. unfortunately the rocket hadn't come with a map of where all the planets were, or else it wouldn't have been a problem.

"I suppose we could just stop at every planet we see, but that would take far to long"

"No kiddin' " said Jin sarcastically "What an understatement!"

"Don't get so damned cocky" said Cloud "I think I have an idea. . ."

**Chapter 5 - The unexpected discovery**

"What do you mean, she didn't have one?" Jenova asked Krinost furiously  
"I mean she didn't have an, . .ocarina. All she had was a medallion that sent out lightning, and I knocked that back into the water!" Jenova leaned her head on her hands "Take us back to Hyrule immediately, before I lose patience with you!" Then Jenova turned to Heihachi "Can I still trust you not to lose the Soul Edge?" she asked "or should I let Voldo use it?"  
Voldo looked up expectantly, although he still could not see. "No, No" said Heihachi, on his knees "I will not fail you this time, mistress, I promise!"  
Jenova smiled evilly.

**********

Stilfire stood at the gates of Hyrule Castle town, looking around at the charred remains, he hung his head in dismay. But then he saw a glint of light in the corner of his eye. he looked and saw a medallion at the bottom of the water. He went to recover it, but just as he picked it up, he heard a strange sound. It was a high pitched whistle, so high that it hurt Stilfire's ears and gave him a headache.  
"Right" said a womans voice, "We've sent the armada ahead, so hide the ship and search for that ocarina!"  
Suddenly an old man with twisted features noticed him "Hey, There's someone over there!"  
Stilfire, shocked tried to fight off the monster that came towards him, but he found it hard when it had six tentacles. He swung his Dragons Tail, a long thin metal staff, which was green with a red tip. It also had runes at one end no-one had yet discovered the meaning of. Most Hyrulians believed that when Stilfire had fought against a mighty dragon, a fight that took two days, when he defeated it he carved his mighty weapon from the dead dragons' tail. This was, however a lie. The fight had admittedly had taken a long time, but not two days. Also he had found the weapon in the treasury of the dragons lair, along with 50 000 rupees worth of treasure. The idea that it had been carved from a dragons tail was absurd!  
The weapon struck home, knocking the monster back and Stilfire heard the woman shouting "Hurry up and finish him, Krinost, then hide the ship. We'll go look for the ocarina."  
"It won't take me long mistress" the creature shouted back, then sneered. It grabbed Stilfire with all its tentacles, Stilfire tried to use his magic but he couldn't concentrate, he still had the ringing in his ears from the high piched noise. Krinost then shook him violently and threw him against one of the charred trees, Stilfire blacked out.

**********

"Right, we've all gathered together here to try to get the voice of the planets to listen" said Cloud looking around the room. "We all noticed that in all cases we were together with whoever was in the same time, and the same planet. Voice of the planets, if you can hear me, please respond!" There was nothing.  
Rock was bored, this would take absolutely ages. He quetly sneaked out off, and went into the control room. He looked at the screen, it was wonderful outside his planet, seeing the stars properly on the dark background. He suddenly noticed a red button that looked appealing. It was large and was surrounded by one rectangular depression. * I wonder what would happen if I pressed it? * he thought. He walked up casually and sat in the pilots seat. It felt comfortable but was too small for Rock, so he stood up again. His finger slowly went towards the button * What would happen? * he thought again * What if it's bad?, Cloud would be real mad. But if it's good * he reasoned * Everyone'll be pleased and Like me * He put his finger right up to it and slowly pressed his finger on the button. Suddenly the rectangle inside the depression collapsed down, held on by it's hinges. Inside were pieces of paper, neatly folded. Rock carefully took them out, being careful not to rip them and slowly unfolded them.  
On the paper were a lot of lines, and circles, and lots of writing near the circles. It all looked very scientific, and the words he could'nt understand - he could read very little - but one word he noticed.  
"Hie - rull -ee, Hie- rule, HYRULE!" Rock looked around excitedly, it said Hyrule, and he had found it. He ran back to the conference room, but stopped at the door, and walked in calmly. Cloud had given up and the room was silent. Cloud turned when Rock came in, feeling proud of himself, and said "Where have you been, wandering around the ship like that!"  
"I found . ." Rock began, but was interupted by Cloud "I've been trying in vain to contact the planets, only to find someone had disappeared! I may as well have been talking to myself!"  
"Cloud don't. ." Tifa began wearly but Cloud wouldn't let her finish.  
"No Tifa, we've a problem here, we've gotta deal with it. What's the point of being team leader, or even having a team leader, if no-one is ever going to appear at any of the meetings? We may as well wander around aimlessly"  
"You jes' sayin' that cause your stupid idea didn't work" said Barret, standing up for Rock "You don't understand Cloud, we can't jes summon them, like we do with summon materia, they summon us!"  
"My idea didn't work cause he didn't stop long enough for me to try!"  
"I found a map" said Rock.  
"It wouldn't have worked even is he had been here" said Cid also joining in.  
"What did you say?" asked Tifa  
"I said . ." started Cid, but Tifa stopped him "Not you, Rock, what did you just say?"  
All eyes turned to Rock, and he shifted his weight nervously. "Wil I be in trouble ?" he asked.  
"Of course not" replied Tifa  
Rock looked round "I found some pieces of paper. There was a pritty button in the control room. I pressed it and it opened an' I found these. They've got funny circles an' lines an' writin', an' some of the writing says Hyrule."  
"You're kiddin'" said Cid in astonishment "we searched every square inch, tried Clouds' summon idea, and Rock figured it out by pressin' a little button? I'll be damned!"  
Everyone crouded round Rock, examining the map and congradulating him. Little did they know that that button had been placed there by the planets when Cloud had asked for help.

**********

"I still can't believe it, Rock unwittingly findin' sonething we searched everywhere for. He must be blessed!" Everyone agreed with Jin's statement, then Hwang said "he must be, he's beaten me three times out of five" Everyone laughed, some saying it must be due to Hwangs poor fighting skills, others agreed it was due to Rocks' strength.  
"Well, at least now we can get to Hyrule, to find out what it was that caused Link to black out" said Cloud watching the screen.

**********

Cid landed the rocket, carefully this time, and the ladder went down once again. Everyone got out, Link first, and looked around. Then Yoshimitsu noticed a person, who despite the chaos, was still alive.  
"I can't believe it" said Link in shock "They've completely destroyed Hyrule. They're gonna pay for this!"  
"Hey everyone!" shouted Yoshimitsu, who was next to the injured Hyrulian "There's someone still alive here!"  
Everyone ran over to see, and when Link got there, he recognised him immediately. "Stilfire!" shouted Link "Are you okay?"  
"I'll take care of this" said Cloud, taking out some materia "Fullcure" he shouted. A yellow column of light surrounded Stilfire, and when it had vanished, he slowly sat up.  
Now that he had time, Cloud took in the details of the boy. he was only young, but also very tall. His long ,dark brown hair went over his ears, covering them completely. His eyes shone in the sunlight and were blue-green. He wore a green uniform jumper and trousers, and had a badge with five sectiond with a symbol in each. A strange swirling symbol decorated the outside of the badge. A staff lay next to him, green apart from the sharp tip. There were runes at the end, and he wore a pendant, whick Link noticed particularly.  
"Hey, that pendant belongs to Zelda!" said Link  
"I didn't know that did I? Besides, how dare you shout at me, I rank higher than you!"  
Link squeezed his eyes shut, as if in pain and when he opened them, he asked "Where did you find it?"  
"In the water, just near Hyrule Castle town bridge. By the way, where is the princess?"  
Link squeezed his eyes shut again, his face twisted in pain. He opened them and said "She's been kidnapped!" Then ran towards the bridge, with everyone following. Link jumped into the water and began digging with his hands in a specific area. Finally he stopped and said "Found it" before pulling out a blue ocarina. "The Ocarina of Time" he declared reverently "Quick everyone follow me!"  
They all went across the bridge into the town. As they passed a door opened and Krinosts single eye followed them. Then he went back into the house and spoke through the communicator "Mistress" he said "I think I've found what you're looking for"

**********

"So, how do you know each other?" Cloud asked  
"He's my superior" said Link rolling his eyes "He dosn't like to admit it, but he's half elven and although he looks like he's 15, he's actually 50. He's also the greatest warrior mage anyone's ever seen. that badge he's wearing indicates the magic he can do, fire, ice, lightning, water, earth and wind is the swirling pattern on the outside. My badge indicates that I can do fire, ice and wind. For some reason he was born powerful!"  
"Maybe he could help us then" said Cloud as they continued.  
They stopped outside the temple "I'll go in alone" said Link "I have to recover the Sword of Time"  
"I'm going with you" said Stilfire "I have a strange feeling about this"  
"Well, you're my superior" said Link sarcastically.  
Inside Link ran straight up to the altar. All three stones were already in place, but he stopped and turned as he realised someone else was with them. "Who are you" asked Link looking at the young woman and the old, twisted man.  
"My name is Jenova, and this is Heihachi. Could we have the Ocarina please?" asked Jenova sweetly  
"NO, Link you get the Sword quick, I'll deal with these two" said Stilfire standing between Link and the two evil ones.  
Link quickly turned and played the song of time, causing the hidden door to open. He quickly ran towards the Sword, just as Jenova floated over Stilfire and floated after Link. As Jenova passed Link, she grabbed the Ocarina with a tentacle. Link although surprised, didn't stop, he couldn't let her get the sword. Jenova reached for the sword with her other tentacle, and began playing the Song of Time. A swirling mist appeared from the sword.  
Meanwhile, Heihachi was attacking Stilfire and winning.  
* That's it * Stilfire thought * No more mr nice guy * "ASTROSLASH!" he shouted. He ran up to Heihach, then swung his staff from right to left, then brought it round to do a downwards attack. He then brought it diagonally down from right to left, and diagonally up from left to right, finishing off with a stabbing attack, which he gripped the staff with both hands for. However the last attack was blocked by Soul Edge, and suddenly Heihachi began fading, eventually he disappeared.  
"What the hell . ." began Stilfire, but then he noticed Link coming in with the Sword of Time, trying to get the goo from the tentacle off it. "Well" said Link "they managed to call Ganondorf" he looked up from the sword to Stilfire "But at least I got the Ocarina and Sword off them"  
Stilfire leaned his staff on his shoulder "That's just like you Link, always looking on the bright side"

**********

In the conference room of Cid's rocket, Cloud was lookin at the map of the universe. "What planet should we check next?" asked Cloud, to no-one in particular "They could be anywhere" Then he noticed a certain word that caught his eye "I don't believe it! Apparently the promised land is an entire planet!"  
"What!??" said Tifa going to look at the map.  
"It says it there, see. The promised land of the Cetra"  
Without another word Cid left the conference room.  
"Hey, Cid where is you goin'?" asked Barret.  
"I'm settin' a course for that solar system" replied Cid without stopping.  
Paul meanwhile was talking to Law. "Have you told her yet?" he asked reffering to Yuffie.  
"Of course not. besides, I've got a feeling she already knows"  
"You can't take that sort of attitude with women, Forest" said Paul, who used Laws' first name alot  
"Well then, What do I do then?" asked Law, getting tired of the conversation.  
"Just tell her how much you love her" said Paul, he smiled "then you can tell me all about it in the mess hall!"  
Paul walked towards Stilfire, putting his sunglasses on "Hi" he said sitting down next to Stilfire "Just thought I'd introduce myself, since you new workin' with us. The names Paul Pheonix"  
"Stilfire" said Stilfire "How come you people all have two names?"  
"Aw, it's just heratige" said Paul "It's all us humans can think about"  
"What are those things you're wearing?" asked Stilfire referring to Pauls' sunglasses "Do they help you to see better?"  
Paul laughed and said "Nah, they just keep the sun out of my eyes. You wanna try them on?" he handed the sunglasses to Stilfire, who nervously took them and slowly put them on. "Hey, they suit ya' Kid" said Paul truthfully "tell ya' what, you can keep 'em"  
"Oh, thanks. By the way what are they called?"  
"Shades!" said Paul bluntly "'Scuse me, I'm gonna go get something to eat."  
Stilfire stood up, leaned the staff on his shoulder and, wearing his newly aquired shades, walked over to Cloud. Cloud turned and jumped in shock "Sorry, I thought you were someone I once knew. What is it?"  
Stilfire looked surprised, then said "I never thanked you for curing me back there. I want you to have this, as a token of my thanks" He handed Cloud what looked like a summon materia, it was red, but it contained other colours, making it look like a fire stone. "It summons the most powerful force ever known to any living being. It is called Universe materia.. Only use it in time of great need, when evil is at it's most powerful, as it will drain most of your energy"  
Cloud refused to take it, and said "I can't have this, it's yours"  
"I know you don't like receiving something you believe you aren't worthy of, but you are worthy of this. I have had this all my life, but I refuse to use it. You see, I don't like using contained magic, I believe contained magic should stay contained. I prefer to use the magic of the mind" he then looked down at the Dragons Tail "I'm reluctant to use this as it contains magic. However, whenever I try to get rid of it it always comes back to me, and it's hard to resist using the magic it contains."  
Cloud recieved the materia, then said "Thankyou Stilfire. You barely know me, yet you trust me with this much power."  
"No, it is I who should be thanking you" Stilfire corrected "you saved the life of someone you never even knew. That is truly something only a man with a good heart would do."  
"Yoshimitsu" said Taki "I never said thanks for you saving me back there, I would surly have been killed"  
"You're welcome" said Yoshimitsu "By the way, that Vincent guy you fancy . . ."  
"I don't fancy him" she said smiling.  
"Of course you do" said Yoshimitsu "and if I was you I'd tell him how you feel about him, before it's too late and he fades into the background."  
Taki smiled, but inside she couldn't help feel that he was right. She would tell him soon.  
"Hey Cloud" said Jin, looking at Tifa "D'ya think Tifa's got a boyfriend or a lover yet?" he nodded toward her.  
"You'd better not go near her" said Cloud turning angry.  
"Wha', you mean she's goin' with you?" he laughed, then said "her, goin' with you, thats absurd!"  
Cloud looked at Jin, then the doorway, and said "Would you just follow me a minute please?"  
They both got up and walked out of the conference room, and everyone fell silent. There was a short pause and some people could hear Cloud muttering. Then there was the sound like someones' fist hitting someone elses face, followed by a thud. Then Cloud walked back in and said "I think it's about dinnertime, lets go to the mess hall"  
Everyone hesitantly agreed and got up just as Jin walked back in holding his eye. They looked at him as they passed, especially Ling Xiaoyu whos' look was one of concern. Jin looked at Cloud evilly, and looked as though he was going to hit Cloud, but thought better of it, and followed the rest of the group. Cloud turned to watch the group go, then followed.

**********

"Did you see Jin when he walked back in?" asked Seung Mina getting her meal from the replicator. No-one had a clue how the replicators worked, but they had been provided by the planets, so no-one asked questions.  
"I wonder what made Cloud thump him?" said Yuffie.  
"Jin was probably calling him names about his hair again" said Taki "I knew he wouldn't leave it be"  
"I know why he thumped Jin" said Seung Mina, everyone gathered round and Yuffie asked "Why?"  
"Well" said Seung Mina, pleased with all the attention "I heard Jin ask if Tifa was taken, and Cloud said yes, and Jin was saying that Tifa would never like Cloud"  
All eyes turned to Tifa "Looks like you've got guys fighting over you, Tifa" said Sophitia.  
"I hope Jin's okay" said Xiaoyu, genuinely concerned.  
"You like him, don't you?" said Yuffie "Erk!" she faked sickness, but Sophitia said "Well, she can fancy whoever she wants"  
"Who do you like Sophy?" asked Mina, using her nickname.  
"Reeve" said Yuffie "but I can't see why, he's a wimp!"  
Some of them laughed, but Sophitia said "What, do you mean? he's sweet, and he's not a wimp, he saved my life" This earned a few 'oooh', then Taki said "Who do you like Yuffie?"  
"Forest" replied Yuffie dreamily "He's gorgeous" This earned more laughs, then Yuffie said "Do you have a dream guy Taki?"  
Taki lookes as though she wasn't going to answer at first, but then said "I think I've taken a liking to Vincent, but he acts so cold and uncaring. A bit like me!" she added. The group began laughing again.  
Link looked at Stilfire. It was weird, but in Hyrule Stilfire was the hero and Link the shy one. Now the roles were reversed. Stilfire had said very little since he had got on the rocket, and he certainly hadn't tried to make friends. he just sat quietly and ate.  
"Hey Link, tell us who this Ganondorf fella is anyway"  
"Well" said Link, turning to Cid who had asked the question, "He's like a sort of a dark knight. he used to work for the king of Hyrule, but really wanted all the pieces of the Triforce. The Triforce is a magical item which can and has been split into three pieces. I have one" he showed them all the back of his hand. On it was a triangular shape which glowed "Princess Zelda has another and Ganondorf has the other. I trapped Ganondorf, with the help of Princess Zelda and the six sages - they are sages who live in different parts of Hyrule - in a time continum. The only way he can e set free is if someone holding the Sword of Time, plays the Song of Time backwards, on the Ocarina of Time. Unfortunately thats exactly what Jenova did back there in the Temple of Time."  
"Wow" said Cid "that's an awful lot of times!"  
"We're time worshippers" said Link "and I'm the Hero of Time"  
The others started talking amongst themselves, and Link said "Hey Stilfire, you're awfully quiet alluva' sudden. Whats wrong?"  
Stilfire looked up at Link and said "How the hell would you like it if you were sent out of Hyrule to try to make peace with other warring countries and came back to find that Hyrule had been burnt to the ground, it's king killed, the Princess kidnapped and to top it all off one of the soldiers under your command was the Hero of Time?!!? It's kinda hard to swallow and I'm just waiting for my real self to wake up quickly!"  
Link laughed and said "This isn't a dream, this is the sad, sorry truth in life. Irony comes in big lumps and everyone gets a dose. Besides, you may not be the Hero of Time, but you're still a hero. maybe when we rescue Zelda and kill Ganon, we could rebuild Hyrule"  
"Yeah, maybe" said Stilfire, obviously not convinced.  
"I kinda fancy Stilfire myself" said Seung Mina, looking at the group seated across from them "and Link looks kinda cute too"  
"I'll be back in a bit" said Tifa, who hadn't really joined in the conversation. She got up and walked to where Cloud, Barret, Mitsurugi and Lei sat, and said "Cloud, could I have a word" she hastily added "in private!" Cloud stood up and followed Tifa out of the mess hall.  
Out in the corridor Tifa asked "Cloud, did you really punch Jin because of me?"  
Cloud didn't know what to say, so he decided to tell the truth "Well, yeah, Tifa, Because I . . .I love you!"  
Tifa smiled and said "I thought so"  
In the mess hall eveyone heard the sound of someones palm hitting someones face. Tifa came back into the mess hall, and Cloud got to the door, when she turned and said "I hate it when people fight over me, like they feel as though they own me!" she noticed the smirk on Jins face "and you can stop laughing as well!"  
"Me?" asked Jin innocently. Suddenly Yuffie burst out laughing "Look at yerselves, fighting over stuff like this"  
"Yuffie, you're barely a teenager, you don't know what love is" said Tifa leaving the mess hall.  
* Geez * thought Stilfire * This is one hell of a violent team. I wonder what Ganondorf is like . . * 

**********

"Ah, the lovely Princess Zelda! I see you have met my dear collegues" Ganondorf laughed and turned to Jenova.  
"I think we should kill her and take the Triforce" began Jenova, but was interrupted by Ganondorf.  
"No,No" he said, shaking his head "We can't do that yet, we must lure Link into our clutches so that we might take the third Triforce piece" he took her hand "then we will become invincible"  
Then Krinost came in, and put his hands behind his back. He was visibly shaking * This Ganondorf is acting suspiciously nice * he thought. In his experience if his employer acted nice, it was because they were about to try to kill him. " We're near the planet you wish to destroy mistress" then he hastily added "and master" and backed away through the doorway.  
"I want to repay you for setting me free, jenova. tell me what is it you desire, and you shall have it"  
Jenova smiled, then said "Can you revive the dead, Ganon?" she huddled closer to him  
"Only if they've been dead less than a year" said Ganon shrugging.  
"There is one person we can use to help us in our cause" she said in a sinister tone of voice "his name is Sephiroth."

**Chapter 6 - The promised land**

The Cetra woman was walking down the street with her human husband. The other Cetra had learned to accept him as their own, after all, the Cetra did not regard people because of their heritage. They stopped at the butchers near the town square. Every Doyobi, the market opened at the town square. But today was a very special day, today not even the children played on the town square. Today the Cetra had visitors.

**********

As the rocket came in for a landing on the spot the planets had told Cid to land on, Cloud looked through the porthole. The town was brilliant, there were no cities and scyscrapers, and no dangerous fumes or reactors. The only smoke was natural fumes for energy, mostly steam. The houses were all beautifully made and the countryside was plentiful and lush. This was the ideal planet.  
When Cid landed the rocket and everyone got out, all of the Cetra acted as though they had already known they would be comming. They were all crowded round the town square. Then a woman Cloud had seen somewhere before stepped forward.  
"Welcome all of you. My name is Infalna, mother of Aeris and wife of Professor Gast" At this point her husband stepped forward, and Cloud in surprise shouted "Professor Gast? But you're dead?"  
The professor laughed and said "Well, sort of. When I died the planets agreed to let me come and live with Infalna, but I can't leave this planet." Gast smiled and said "not that I would want to leave this haven. Now, I know exactly what you all came for. Aeris is just preparing for the adventure." Gast put a hand on Clouds' shoulder and whispered "Take good care of her will you Cloud, she's still not very good at defending herself. I've tried teaching her but it is as if she doesn't want to learn."  
"Don't worry" said Cloud, also in a whisper "I will"  
Suddenly the crowd parted, making a path, at the other end of which was Aeris. She was wearing the same clothes as she had when she had died, her Princess Guard - the staff she used as a weapon - and a backpack, which probably had all her possessions. Despite the fact that they all knew Aeris was here, the group of Avalanche still looked surprised to see her.  
"Aeris" said Cloud as she walked down the path "don't ever die on us again, okay?"  
She giggled and said "Don't worry, Sephiroth can't kill me when he's dead, and he's about the only person crafty enough to kill me"  
She looked at all the group, then said "Hi Tifa, got your bar back on the move, what was it called, Seventh Heaven?"  
Tifa smiled and said "Yeah, I'll take you to see it when this is all over"  
"Cid, you finally got you dream" She said , nodding towards the rocket. Cid just nodded in acknowlagement, astonished to see that she was alive and talking to him. "Vincent, I see you're still the quiet guy I know so well"  
Taki added "I'm hoping to change that" This turned a few heads, especially Vincents, who just raised his eyebrows and smirked.  
"Yuffie, still not grown up yet?" Yuffie nodded in agreement, then shook herself and said "Hey!" which got some people laughing.  
"Red Thir. . I mean, Nanaki, have you found a mate yet?"  
Nanaki shook his head and said "Alas, no, not yet" Aeris smiled faintly "Well then, there's a planet I'm gong to have to show you later" This raised Nanaki's hopes, he suddenly felt very excited.  
"Barret, how's Marlene doing?" asked Aeris, continuing relentlessly to find out how all her old friends were doing.  
"I've rebuilt Corel and got her into school, they say they've got high hopes fer her!" said Barret proudly. This made everyone smile, Barret looked like the last person you'd expect to be proud of his daughter because of school.  
"Reeve, enjoying adventures without Cait Sith?"  
"Yeah" said Reeve, swinging his night-stick "It's great"  
There was silence for a bit, no-one could think of anything to say. "Well" said Infalna, breaking the spell "No time to lose, you've got a universe to save" Infalna was crying at this point, and she buried her face in her husbands shoulder. Professor Gast looked up "We wish you the best of luck"  
From the clock tower, someone watched as the group of around twenty people walked back to and began to enter Cid's rocket. then the dark figure began jumping from roof to roof to get to the ship Jenova had given it. The carnage was about to begin.  
As Aeris and Cloud, the last two people to start for the rocket, walked, Aeris asked "Is it true you hit Jin because what he said about Tifa?"  
"How did you know?" Cloud asked.

**********

"Link, you seem to have ignored me ever since you recovered the Sword of Time" said the small light buzzing around Link  
"Navi" said Link in shock "I didn't know you were here"  
"Yeah right" said Navi "I've been tring to get your attention for ages, just don't forget I'm here if you need help"  
Link laughed and said "Don't worry Navi, you're the best friend I have"  
"Can I just ask" said Cloud coming into the conference room with Aeris "Were you the one we saw before we went into that weird time continum"  
"Yeah, I had to send you to it, but I could only be there in spirit which is why I kept changing age"  
Suddenly Cid burst into the conference room, as white as a ghost and panicking "Quick, Cloud come take a look at this"  
Cid then disappeared, followed closly by Cloud, Aeris, Tifa and Lei, who had become best friends with Cid. As the group followed Cid into the control room, they all stared at the screen in shock. On it was the face of someone they had known for a long time. His silver hair flowed down as far as the screen went, he wore completely black clothes and his green eyes glowed, just as much as they had before he had been killed, maybe even more.  
"Sephiroth" said Cloud, eyes narrowing "I should have known Jenova would bring you back from the dead"  
Sephiroth laughed evilly and said "I know your rocket isn't capable of firepower, so if I were you, I'd follow my lead. I'm going to destoy the Yosanese planet." Cloud looked puzzled "I know you're not familiar with that name, but I'm sure your friend Yoshimitsu, is"  
Sephiroths face disappeared and the screen switched to a view of the Cetra planet, and Sephiroths' ship moving away.  
"Follow him" said Cloud bluntly "I'm gonna find out about this planet"

**********

"Well Taki" said Vincent, sitting down next to her "What was all this about changing me from being a cold hearted vampire?"  
Taki smirked and said "So you are a vampire?"  
"Maybe, maybe not" said Vincent continuing to tease Taki "Why are vampires your type?"  
Taki was about to repond when Cloud ran in. he immediately looked at Yoshimitsu, who walked towards Cloud. "What is it?" he asked. "There's an old rival of ours who we thought we'd killed" he looked at the other Avalanche members one by one, then said in a rather sinister tone "It's Sephiroth!" This alone got a lot of startled remarks, but Cloud continued "he's threatening to destroy your planet, Yoshimitsu, and believe me, he's capable of it."  
Yoshimitsu ran past Cloud and headed for the control room followed closely by Cloud and the rest of the group.

**********

"Excellent" said Jenova when Krinost had told her what Sephiroth was doing "only a few hours since he was revived and already he's making himself useful"  
Ganondorf, who was looking through one of the portals at space, turned to Jenova and said "How's slowing them down going to help?" Jenova got up from her seat, walked over to Ganondorf and said "Ganon, my dear, be patient" she sat on his lap, then continued "If he slows them down, it gives us a chance to get to the planet in time and build a Mako reactor to build home monsters."  
Gannondorf grinned then said "Jenova, my dear, as usual your genius shines through"  
Jenova flicked her hair and said "Thank you! Krinost leave now"  
Krinost rolled his eyes as he left the room. Ganondorf was telling Jenova how clever she was. It made Krinost want to be sick.

**********

Cid's rocket came in for a landing and the door opened, but Yoshimitsu wouldn't wait for the rope ladder. He jumped straight out followed by the ladder and the rest of the group. In the middle of the road, Sephiroth and three monsters stood, Sephiroth holding one of Yoshimitsu' race hostage. Kunimitsu, a member of the Mnji clan, and friend to Yoshimitsu was trying to talk Sephiroth into releasing the hostage and fighting him.  
"If you're such a powerful person, why not fight me? Chicken!" When Yoshimitsu stepped forward, the rest of the group behind, all the passers by turned to him. There were a few mutters under some peoples breath. "Let go of the hostage Sephiroth, it's us you want" shouted Yoshimitsu.  
Sephiroth thrust his Masamune through the helpless hostage. Yoshimitsu' anger built up inside him "That's a cowardly way to kill someone, Sephiroth. It is an act you will pay dearly for!"  
Sephiroth just laughed and said "I didn't expect you to seem to be bothered, Yoshimitsu. After all that is the reason you were exiled. Don't you remember Yoshimitsu?"  
Yoshimitsu remembered. Ishdo had been a well known crime lord, he had also killed Yoshimitsu' parents. Yoshimitsu, who was only very young at the time had taken his fathers long sword - a samuri sword which glowed with an inner light - and gone to Ishdos' headquarters. While Ishdo was occupied, Yoshimitsu had thrust the sword through him in a rage. He had been exiled to a penal moon, which he had escaped from five years later and he had then gon to a planet known as Earth. To try to help the humans evolve in the hope that his gods would forgive him.  
"Ishdo was an evil person. He killed my parents dishonorably. He deserved to die!"  
"Enough talk" said Kunimitsu walking up next to Yoshimitsu "Try and beat us if you can!"  
"Ya, Ki, Rey!" shouted Sephiroth signalling for the three monsters to attack. Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu both ran towards Sephiroth, but were stopped by a monster which had claws coming from its back, normal looking arms and hands, and slimy, tree trunk sized legs. It didn't have a neck, its head looked like it was part of the monsters chest. Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu made a silent agreement and as Yoshimitsu attacked the monster, Kunimitsu moved around it., But one of the claws lashed out, knocking him back. Yoshimitsu ducked under the monsters arm, then span round and slashed its midriff, making a deep wound which drew blood. Kunimitsu recovered, span into the air and landed on the creatures' head, knocking it on its head.  
meanwhile the rest of the group were fending off the other two creatures, which both looked similar to the other one. Li Long sent his nunchuckas flying at one of the creatures arms, the weapon wraping around the arm. He then pulled it towards him and elbowed it in the face. Aeris however had turned her attention to Sephiroth. She cast Great Gospel on the rest of the group, but not herself, and walked toward Sephiroth, who turned as she came up behind him.  
"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to kill me" he then raised his Masamune and said "prepare to die, again" but Aeris didn't flinch. Instead she said "Wait, give me a chance to say something, then you can kill me" Sephiroth lowered his sword and Aeris continued "You're real mother isn't Jenova, it is a woman called Lucrecia"   
Sephiroth rolled his eyes and said "You liar, why did Jenova bring me back to life then?"  
"Becaus she knew she still had influence over you, and besides, that isn't the same Jenova. The Jenovas are a race, that one is Jenova-INFINITY. Your father is Hojo, he wanted to use you as a test subject for his experiments. He then tried the same experiments on the members of SOLDIER, but found it wasn't as effective."  
"Fine" said Aeris without flinching "Kill me, I'll just keep coming back to aggravate you until you listen. By the way, why do you think you never went to the promised land if you're a Cetra?"  
Sephiroth lowered his sword and said "Can you prove that what you're telling me is the truth?"  
"Yes" said Aeris, hope flickering in her deep green eyes "I can take you to Professor Gast, my father, in the promised land"   
Sephiroth's eyes widened and he thrust his sword into the final monster as it passed . Then he said "If I get the slightest idea that you're trying to trick me, I will kill you and all of your friends"  
"Trust me" said Aeris smiling "We'll tell you the truth"

**Chapter 7 - The truth comes out **

The rocket landed in the same place as it had the first time the group came here. Sephiroth had already got out of his ship and was staring in disbelief at Gast.  
"Professor" said Sephiroth finally "But, you're supposed to be dead!"  
Professor Gast smiled and said "I could say the same about you my boy. Cloud, Aeris could you come with us, the rest of your group could look around out peaceful haven."  
Gast led Cloud, Sephiroth and Aeris to his home. Infalna was also there. "She said she would be here shortly" said Infalna kindly "So this is Sephiroth eh? Your mother will be pleased to see you again"  
Sephiroth looked round and then said "This is a trick, you're tring to weaken me!" He unsheathed his Masamune, and Infalna let out a cry. But Gast grabbed Sephiroth's arm with a surprising strenght, and said, rather furiously " You kill my daughter, then frighten my wife, and you dare question us? You have changed Sephiroth, and God knows, it's for the worst!"  
Sephiroth sheathed his sword and sat down, hesitantly, he asked "If Jenova isn't my mother, then why did the reports in Shin-Ra say that she was?"  
Gast shook his head and said "They didn't. They said you had been injected with Jenova cells. Hojo said that your mother was Jenova because he didn't want you to find out the truth. There are many revelations that you and Cloud need to be told of" Cloud turned from his hateful gaze on Sephiroth and looked at Gast in surprise "First of all Sephiroth, I'll tell you about Jenova. The Jenovas are a race of power hungry aliens, whos' one goal in life is to take over the universe. Long ago when the Cetra and humans lived together on your planet, a powerful jenova came. It wanted to take over the planet. The Cetra and the Espas, Nanakis' race, as protectors of the planet, fought Jenova and its followers alongside the humans. Many Espas died, and even more Cetra were lost, but the last few managed to trap Jenova. When Shin-ra uncovered Jenova they assumed it was one of the Cetra. Hojo who was married to Lucrecia, wanted to make the ultimate SOLDIER, so he impregnated Lucrecia, and continued injected the embryo with Jenova cells and mako. When the child was born, Lucrecia named him Sephiroth." At this Sephiroth rolled his eyes "He wouldn't let Lucrecia see her baby one last time before she died, his timing with the experiments was too important for 'emotions' to get in the way. I know this is hard to believe, Sephiroth, but please you must believe me. When Jenova realised what Hojo had done, it took the opportunity to manipulate you for it's own ends." Gast patted Sephiroth on the shoulder reassuringly. "You know I wouldn't lie to you Sephiroth, I treated you like my own son."  
Gast then turned to Cloud "Cloud, I know your birth is a bit hazy, but I'll fill you in. After Sephiroth, Hojo tried to inject all members of SOLDIER with mako which failed. He later decided on a second experiment. By then he had gotten a new lover, a woman who was warmhearted and kind. He found that she was going to have a child. He didn't continue injecting the embryo, instead he just injected the baby once with Mako and Jenova cells, then waited for the child to be born. He wanted to find out what happened if he injected it once with Jenova cells and mako before birth and then continue the injections after birth, when the boy was born. The mother asked me to name him. I called him Cloud"  
Cloud looked at professor Gast in horror "You've got to be F******g Kidding!"  
"I'm afraid not" said professor Gast "you and Sephiroth are half brothers, born to the same sick, twisted father. When I found out what he wanted to do to you and Aeris - He wanted to to inject you both with Mako and Jenova cells and, when you got older get you both to have a child - I took you, your mother, Infalna and Aeris and got away from there. I told your mother to take you to Nibelhiem where you'd be safe, and I took Infalna and Aeris to the Icicle village, where I met my demise." He looked at Sephiroth, then back at Cloud - both were looking at each other, then they both looked at Gast. "Hojo probably sent you both to Nibelhiem on purpose, probably so that you would both get the wrong idea and go looking for the promised land. Fortunately Cloud didn't"  
The door opened and a beautiful woman walked in. She had silver hair and the same colour eyes as Sephiroth. Tears began streaming from her eyes as she went over to her son.  
"Wait Lucrecia, we all know how much you love him, but I'm not sure he believes me yet!"  
Lucrecia looked at Sephiroth as though he had just swore "I see" she said, sitting on a chair gast had gotten her "He still believes that Jenova is his real mother. I have hated Hojo ever since he had begun injecting you with mako. I should never have agreed to it, but because of it you had to experience a lonely life, no child should ever have to experience. Remember Sephiroth, when you were locked in that closet by a minder and you said ' I wish I had a mummy, like all the rest of the kids', and you suddenly felt the presence of a loving person with you? That was my spirit, I tried to stay with you after I died but there had been nothing I could do. It hurt me to see what Hojo did to you, but I couldn't do anything."  
Sephiroth, now almost crying, was certain that this was his real mother. He moved closer to her and said "When Hojo injected me I cried out at first, and when the minders hit me, but after a while I realised that there was no-one alive that cared whether or not it hurt, so I learned to ignore the pain. I never cared or loved anyone else, because no-one had ever treated me like that, so I never had a reason to care about anyone."  
Lucrecia, now crying, hugged Sephiroth and said "I am your mother Sephiroth. I always have and always will love you more than anyone else in the universe."  
Sephiroth who was hugging his mother, his eyes shut tightly, quickly opened them and said "the universe!" He quickly got out of his mothers hug and said to Gast "Jenova is trying to take the universe, am I too late to stop it?"  
"No," said Cloud "They can't win yet, they want the other Tri-force piece, the piece Link has"  
Sephiroth nodded "Tey're going to our home planet, we should set off as soon as possible"  
"There is one planet I want to take Nanaki to, first, his home planet." said Aeris finally joining in the conversation  
"You can take him in my ship if you wish" said Sephiroth "it's pretty straightforward to control"  
Aeris thanked Sephiroth and ran out of the room to find Nanaki, leaving the others to talk amongst themselves.

**********

Cid landed the ship Aeris had told him about. He felt uneasy flying in a ship owned by Sephiroth, but Aeris had told him that Sephiroth knew the truth, and her word was final.  
"I'll be waitin' here for you both, don't take too long"  
"Thanks" replies Aeris, and she and Nanaki set off.  
"This is my home planet, then" said Nanaki looking round "It's my kind of place"  
As they continued to walk, Nanaki got the distinct impression that they were both being watched. Suddenly a group of animals exactly like Nanaki appeared in front of and around them.  
"Wait" shouted Nanaki looking around at each of them "I am Nanaki, son of Seto and Guardian of Cosmo Canyon. Me and my Cetra friend come in peace."  
One of them walked forward and said "What would a tamed Espa want with us!"  
Nanaki looked down an minute, then said "I want to find out more about my race, as I know very little about the Espas"  
"If you can defeat me, then we shall tell you more about our race"  
"Very well" replied Nanaki stepping forward.

**********

Cid threw his cigarette stump onto the floor and lit another. He felt uneasy in this ship. He went out of the ship, and suddenly heard a sound. He readied his Venus Gospel, but it was only Aeris and Nanaki, with a group of what looked like lots of Nanakis'. Walking alongside Nanaki was a female Espa.  
Then one of the others said "I hope Aenisa will be able to help you, and I wish you the very best of luck in defeating Jenova- Infinity. Good luck brother Nanaki"  
"Thankyou brother Harn" Nanaki replied.  
They all got into the ship, and as Cid eased it off the ground he asked "What was all that about?"  
"It's a long story" said Nanaki.

**Chapter 8 - The suckers are gonna pay!**

Jenova and Ganon looked at the latest batch of monsters created by the mako reactor. It was a particularly good batch, all the best and most powerful monsters.

"Excellent" said Jenova turning to Ganondorf "Those idiots in AVALANCHE won't know what's hit them!"

Ganondorf smiled and said "They don't stand a chance against us"

Voldo, who had barely said a word since he had joined Jenova, said "When do I get my sight back?"

Jenova rolled her eyes and looked at Ganon, who just shrugged "I suppose it wouldn't hurt" he said.

"Very well, Voldo, Esuna!"

Voldo was now estastic, and when his vision became clear , he said "Thankyou, miss Jenova. this is a wonderful experience for me"

Then, Heihachi, who was seated at the other side of Jenova, said "When can I go and ease my bloodlust, mistress?"

Jenova waved her hand and said "Yes alright, go on. Go knock yourself out!"

Heihachi turned and ran out of the room, followed closely by Voldo. Jenova rolled her eyes, then sat on Ganons lap. "So" she said in a surprisingly sweet voice "alone at last"

Ganondorf smiled, but said "Never mix business with pleasure, my dear, maybe when this is over and we have control of the universe"

"Oh, I see" said Jenova sulkily "You don't like me, is that it?" She got up and started walking towards the door, but Ganon said "Jenova, my dear" Jenova turned and he said "I really do love you, just be patient"

She smiled and said "I understand" then turned and walked out the door.

**********

"I don't know how the others'll take this" said Cloud "I can barely believe it myself!"

Sephiroth smiled and said "Well, I don't care what anybody thinks of me, little bro'!"

Cloud was furious, he turned to Sephiroth and said "Don't ever call me little bro!"

"Well, why not? you're my little brother aren't you?" Sephiroth replied loving every minute.

"Look Sephiroth, don't push your luck. At least just call me bro', but don't mention it to the others until I've told 'em"

"Whatever you say, little bro'"

"SEPHIROTH! shut up before I shove this sword up your @$$"

At this point professor Gast and Infalna were in stitches, Lucrecia, who had gone to get something, came in and said "What's the joke"

Professor Gast tried to stop laughing and said "Oh, its just these two arguing like big kids"

Lucrecia smiled then said "I've brought their pendants Gast"

Gast took one and said "Thankyou" Then went over to Cloud. Lucrecia went to Sephiroth, and Gast said "These are small pendants we thought we'd give you to remember us by" Gast then put one pendant on Cloud whilst Lucrecia put the other one on Sephiroth.

"We all wish you and your team the best of luck, and hope that you both learn to settle your differences"

Sephiroth and Cloud thanked everyone, then they all went outside, just as the ship Cid had been flying landed near the rocket. Yoshimitsu walked up to Cloud and said "Why isn't he dead yet?"

Cloud, who had been looking at the ship turned to Yoshimitsu and said "He was being manipulated before, but we managed to make him believe the truth"

Yoshimitsu looked from Cloud to Sephiroth, who looked at Yoshimitsu innocently, and back to Cloud again "Then I take it he won't need his ship then?" asked Yoshimitsu hopefully "It's just that my exile has been lifted and I want to go back to my home planet"

Sephiroth shrugged and said "Sure, take it, I don't need it anymore"

Yoshimitsu looked round at the rest of the group "Farewell, then, my friends. maybe we'll meet again someday" He then ran to the ship, which was now empty, got in and set off back to his home planet.

The whole group got into the rocket, most of them a little worried about the latest addition to the group.

**********

After Cid set the rocket to head back to their own planet he quickly went into the conference room, where the discussions began.

"He's a killer" Tifa shouted, pointing a finger at Sephiroth "I think we should kill him"

Cloud stood up, then said "I know I'm the last person you'd expect to hear this from, but Sephiroths changed. Professor Gast explained the truth, and brought Sephiroth around" Cloud sighed then continued "he also told me something that will startle you . . ."

Aeris continued "You know Hojo was Sephiroths real father?"

"Yeah" said Yuffie "he was nuts too"

"Well" said Aeris, looking round at everyone "he was Clouds father as well!"

The conference room fell into silence. Barret then said "Jesus F*****g Christ!!, you mean Cloud and Sephiroth are . ."

"Half brothers" said Vincent finishing Barrets sentence "but how?"

Cloud explained everything that professor Gast had told them, and when he finished he said "Please, at least give Sephiroth a chance"

Tifa still wasn't convinced "He killed my father and all the townspeople! He deserves to die"

"We've already killed him once, haven't we?" said Cloud He could never have guessed that he would ever back Sephiroth, but he knew Sephiroth deserved a chance.

"Besides" said Sephiroth, looking accusingly at Tifa and Barret "how many people died in the two mako reactor bombings? And because of your presence, Shin-ra destroyed the support holding up the plate above sector seven. That would never have happened if it wasn't for you!"

Tifa, a little hesitantly, said "That was to try and stop Shin-ra from destroying the planet!"

"but it never worked did it? Only by killing Hojo and by the WEAPON killing Rufus did you actually stop them!" said Sephiroth continuing relentlessly. Cloud was now fed up of this argument and left.

"Well" said Cid, finally getting over the shock of Sephiroth being on their side "this lesson in comparative F*****g morality is all very interesting, but I've got a feeling Nanaki's friend is feelin' a bit left out"

They all turned to Nanaki, who was looking embarrassed.

"Sorry" said Tifa "I didn't realise"

"It's quite alright" said Nanaki "everyone, this is Aenisa"

"Hi" said Aenisa rather nervously.

"I had to fight the king of the Espa tribe and win, in order to regain my position as an Espa" said Nanaki "needless to say, I won!"

"My father asked me to come along with Nanaki, to help" explained Aenisa "I have always wanted to prove myself"

"Yeah, right" said Cid " you jes' wanna get closer to him, don't ya?"

Meanwhile Jin was getting bored, and said to Paul "I think that Sephiroth is my kinda guy!"

Paul, who hadn't really been listening, said "I bet you do!"

"Ah, what the hell would you know!" said Jin wandering off.

"Navi" Link asked his fairy "can you tell me whether he's good or bad?"

At that moment Stilfire wandered over and said "Who are you talking to?"

"My fairy, Navi!" said Link as though it was obvious. Stilfire looked dubious.

"he's good" said Navi "you're safe with him"

"Who was that?" asked Stilfire, astonished.

"Navi" said Link, smiling.

Mitsurugi walked over to Sephiroth and said "Ah, a Masamune, it's been a while since I've one of those. May I?" Mitsurugi put out his hand.

Sephiroth looked at him suspiciously, but then shrugged and said "Sure" he handed the sword to Mitsurugi, who could barely hold it.

"My god! this is longer than Kojiro's sword!" he gave it back to Sephiroth quickly, then said "Give me a Murasame any day!" This remark got a few laughs.

Aeris then noticed an ancient weapon she had been told about on the Cetra homeworld. "I don't believe it, Dragons Tail!" She went over to Stilfire and said "Where did you get that staff?"

Stilfire looked at her for a moment and said "From a dragons treasury, after I had killed it"

"This weapon is a Cetra weapon. It was made nine hundred years ago. It had the power to drain and inner strength from its owner. These runes" Aeris pointed to the runes on the staff "each have a different meaning. This one" Aeris pointed to a rune which was just one vertical line with two horizontal lines crossing it "means 'one possessor'. it means that only the owner can use it unless the owner offers it to someone." She pointed to a v shaped rune with a dot on the left of it "this one means 'return'. It means you can never lose or throw it away, unless you pass it on to your successor or unless you die. This one means 'rapid strike', for obvious reasons" Aeris smiled as she pointed to an x shaped rune "And this one, probably your rune" she said pointing to an alpha shaped rune "means 'Light transformation'"

Aeris looked at Stilfire "Only a Cetra can handle this weapon, you must be part Cetra!"

"I don't think so, I'm half-Hyrulian, half-Elven" he said, revealing his slightly pointed ears.

"Well that figures, most Hyrulians have Cetra blood"

"But I had an Elven father and a human mother" complained Stilfire.

"A Cetra mother" Aeris corrected "What was her name?"

"Z'Beryl Stilfire" said Stilfire proudly.

"Oh yeah, I know her, she's a friend of my moms"

Stilfire looked confused and asked Aeris to explain.

**********

Cloud sat on his bunk, watching the stars go by, when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in" said Cloud, not turning round.

Jin then entered "I need to talk to you, Cloud"

Cloud looked up "What is it?"

**********

Sephiroth suddenly felt very strange. He felt as though someone was about to attack him, but at the same time, it wasn't him. At the other side of the room, Link noticed the signs in Sephiroth and followed him out of the conference room.

**********

Sephiroth burst into Cloud's room, in time to see Jin raise his fist. Without a second thought, Sephiroth quickly grabbed Jins' fist and said "Don't even think about it, or you'll pay dearly" Cloud looked at Sephiroth, then heard a stifled giggle.

"What the hell are you laughing about, Elf boy?!" asked Jin furiously.

"None of you understand how Sephiroth knew!" said Link.

Sephiroth looked puzzled "how?" he asked.

Link pointed to the pendant around Clouds' neck. "I noticed those when you got on board the rocket. those pendants give you a link with each other, letting each of you know if the other is in trouble."

Both Cloud and Sephiroth looked down at their pendants, then each other. Then Cloud looked at Link and said "How do you know?"

"Because I have a link with princess Zelda, but the Tri-force pieces link us together" he then turned and left the Cloud's room.

Finally, Sephiroth let go of Jin, who left the room, angry. Cloud and Sephiroth looked at one other and Sephiroth said "Well, looks like we're stuck with each other, little bro"

"Sephiroth!" said Cloud furiously "can you stop calling me that?!"

"Well why don't we have a sparring match to settle it" said Sephiroth smiling.

"Five hundred gil, says I'll kick your @$$" said Cloud brightening up.

"Six hundred says you're wrong" replied Sephiroth rising to the challenge.

"Done!" said Cloud getting up "shake on it!" They both shook hands, then left the room.

**********

Cloud and Sephiroth both entered the conference room, Sephiroth began moving the table out of the way, as Cloud said "Every one move out of the way, me and Sephiroth are gonna have a sparring match, any bets, place 'em now!"

Sephiroth continued "The first one to lose balance and fall, loses"

As Cloud started towards the centre of the circle, Tifa said "How can you spar at a time like this?"

"It's good practice" said Cloud "and it relieves tension"

"I'm bettin' on Sephiroth" said Jin not surprisingly.

"I bet on Cloud" said Barret.

"Me too" said Cid.

After the betting had finished, they began. Sephiroth and Cloud both began circling each other. Suddenly Sephiroth slashed from right to left, but his sudden attack was blocked by Cloud. Cloud countered with a higher attack, which Sephiroth blocked easily, before he slashed from left to right. Cloud dodged out of the way and countered with a lower attack, which Sephiroth managed to block before trying to catch Cloud off guard by doing an overhead strike. Cloud however saw what Sephiroth was planning and blocked his sword. The sparring match carried on like this for a long time, neither managing to gain the edge over the other. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, the rocket rocked violently, and both Cloud and Sephiroth lost their balance and fell to the ground.

"Damn" said Cid "that means a draw" he then stormed off to the control room to sort out the problem. Everyone groaned as Sephiroth and Cloud got to their feet.

"Well" said Sephiroth "That can only mean a rematch at a later date"

"Yeah" replied Cloud sheathing his sword and brushing himself off "Same bet?"

"Let's double it!" Sephiroth said, then smiled "Til' then, I'll have to call you little bro!"

Cloud looked annoyed but said nothing.

"Damn" said Reeve a bit further away "I expected Cloud to win that!"

"I don't like betting" said Sophitia with a frown.

"Er, no, neither do I. I just expected Cloud to win, that's all" said Reeve hastily, earning a smile off Sophitia.

"Geez, I can't believe that neither of 'em managed to win! I wanna rematch now!" said Barret furiously.

"Shut up Barret" replied Tifa. 

Barret turned to Tifa "You makin' a lot of enemies alluva sudden! You're gonna have to sort ya-self out"

"Yeah" said Aeris walking up next to Barret, and not taking her eyes off Tifa "What's wrong Tifa? What happened to the cheerful, good natured Tifa we all know and love?"

Tifa smiled and said "You're right Aeris, sorry Barret. I don't know what's gotten into me"

Yuffie walked over then "What's all this about?" she asked.

Tifa turned to Yuffie and said "Yuffie, I'm sorry for what I said the other day, it was out of line"

Yuffie shook her head and said " Don't worry, people say things like that to me so often that I've learned to ignore it. besides, you were right, I need to grow up a bit. The person you should say sorry to is Cloud, after all, he stood up for you."

Tifa looked at Cloud, who was arguing with Sephiroth "Yeah you're right" she said, then walked over to them.

As Tifa walked up beside Cloud, he turned to look at her. He was smiling - he had been joking with Sephiroth - but he put on a straight face when he saw her.

"Oh, hi Tifa" he said seriously "I guess it's about that sparring match with Sephiroth"

"I'm sorry for the other day" she said, ignoring what he had just said "you were fighting over me, I should have been flattered" then she smiled and decided to change the subject. "I never expected you to befriend Sephiroth though."

Cloud looked at Sephiroth, who seemed to be chatting up Aeris, "Neither did I" he said turning to look at Tifa "but if you had seen the transformation from his old misguided form to this one when professor Gast told him the truth, you'd have understood that he really has changed."

Tifa looked at Sephiroth, remembering that fateful day in Nibelhiem when Sephiroth lost his mind and began burning the houses to the ground. He had killed two more villagers with his sword as they tried to defend themselves. Then he had gone to the Nibelhime reactor, followed by her father who tried to stop Sephiroth. by the time Tifa found him, her father was already dead, Sephiroths sword still in him. Tifa had taken the sword and tried to kill Sephiroth, he managed to get the sword off her and cut her badly. If it hadn't been for Cloud saving her, she most definitely would have died. But they had gotten revenge against Sephiroth - they had already killed him once - and he deserved a second chance.

"Alright, I'll give him a chance, I wont say anything else about what he did"

"Great" said Cloud, then hugged her "you're finally back to the normal, good natured Tifa"

"I can't believe you didn't beat Sephiroth though. I thought you'd kick his ass"

"Believe me" said Cloud as they turned to walk over to Aeris and Sephiroth "It's a lot harder to just knock someone off balance than it is to kill him - you've gotta make sure you don't injure him, or else it's disqualification."

"Are they really the rules" she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"Yuffie" Law said as they sat, telling each other about themselves. "when this is over, d'you wanna go to my planet and meet my dad?"

"Sure" she said in a half serious tone "and then you can come meet my dad"

"I wonder where we'll live" said Law looking at the stars going by the porthole.

"That could be problem, two people, two worlds" said Mitsurugi butting in "but I'm sure you two kids'll find a solution"

"Go away!" said Law and Yuffie at the same time.

"Have you ever loved anyone else?" Taki asked Vincent at the other side of the room.

Vincent turned and stared at the wall for a while, as though he wasn't going to answer, but then he said "Once, long ago. She was called Lucrecia,"

"Lucrecia" said Taki, a look of recognition on her face "I heard someone say that name before. That Aeris was talking to Sephiroth and mentioned it"

"Yes, it was Sephiroths mother" he didn't finish the sentence - he knew Taki was going to interrupt him.

"Before or after he was born?" she ask eagerly.

"it definitely wasn't after, she died hours after his birth. No it was during he pregnancy. She was married to a scientist named Hojo. He was a madman and didn't really love her, he just wanted to continue his experiments. He was the one who did this to me." he pointed to his left arm, which was more like a claw. Neither said anything for a while, then Vincent said "Have you ever loved anyone?"

Taki shook her head, then said "No, the moment I was born everyone knew that I had the strength to fight demons. They said I couldn't love another as it would make me weak, but I don't care anymore." she lowered her head "I'm fed up with being a loner just so that I can be a demon hunter. she looked into Vincent's' cold, red eyes, then said "I love you Vincent"

Vincent looked down then said "There's no point wasting your time on me, I've lost the ability to love!"

"Love isn't an ability" she said trying to look into his eyes again "I think even you can love, you're just afraid that the same thing will happen again as it did with Lucrecia. you've gotta stop being so harsh on yourself, give yourself another chance."

Vincent got out of his seat "I'm sorry Taki" he said, then turned and walked off to the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Sophitia, who was now sitting a seat away from Taki.

"Vincent believes he doesn't have the right to love, just because he once lost a woman called Lucrecia." Taki said solemnly "and I love him"

Sophitia looked thoughtful for a moment, then said "Have you told him not to blame himself?"

"Didn't work" said Taki bluntly

"Then be ruthless" said Sophitia, causing Taki to look up at her in surprise, "what do you mean?"

"Well if he doesn't like to hurt peoples' feelings then he can't get out of it if you tell him he's broken your heart!"

"Ah" said Taki smiling "Thanks Sophy . ."

**********

Vincent took out some night-clothes from the drawer. He had decided to have an early night, after talking with Taki * she said she loved me though * he thought as he took his shirt off. Suddenly the door burst open - it was Taki. she had an angry look on her face, but it faded when she realised he was half dressed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were getting changed, I'll come back later" she said nervously.

"No, It's alright, what's on your mind?"

"Well, before I said I loved you" she said then thought * Oh man, I can't believe I can't pluck up the courage to say it * Then she remembered how he had rejected her "Well, you're the only person, I've ever even liked, never mind loved, and you just say ' Oh no!, I can't because I lost my first love!' Are you that full of self pity that you don't give a damn about anyone else's feelings? Or is it just that because you've gone through it, you wanna see someone else go through it?"

"No, of course not!" said Vincent, surprised at this sudden change in attitude "Look, I'm sorry, it was a horrible thing for me to do. It's just that I was so full of self pity, that I didn't stop to think about anyone else."

Taki smiled, and walked over to Vincent "So, that means you'll go out with me?"

"Where" he asked as she moved closer to him and hugged him.

"I'm sure there's someplace we can go on your planet, when this is over."

**********

Cid burst into the conference room the next day "We're there, we're back on our own planet."

There were some cheers, but it didn't last long. Everyone knew that it was going to be dangerous down there, and they had to get properly organised.

"Okay" said Cloud, when things had calmed down "We have to plan for the real thing now. We'll get all the most powerful of the group on the outside and those who cast magic better, will stay in the middle of the group" He then gathered everyone together and said "Me, Mitsurugi, Barret, Jin, Hwoarang, Rock, Vincent, Paul, Sephiroth, Cid, Hwang, Stilfire and Li long will all go on the outer rim of the circle. Is that Okay" Nobody complained, so Cloud continued "Good. We'll have a second circle inside the first, consisting of Tifa, Xiaoyu, Lei, Link, Seung Mina, Nanaki and Law. Any problems with that?" again no-one complained "That means the rest, Yuffie, Reeve, Aenisa and Aeris, will be on the inside"

Then Yuffie piped up "Why me in the middle?, I wanna kick ass!"

"Yeah" said Cloud "but those inside the circle get to carry and use the most materia"

Yuffie grinned and said "Cool"

"How are we gonna do any magic if we can't even see anything?" Reeve asked hesitantly.

"Simple" said Cloud, then addressed the whole group "The rest of us will leave four gaps, large enough for those inside to see who they're casting on. But we'll only use this as a defensive strategy. When I shout out 'Coldfire' I expect this formation"

"I think it best that we practice a couple of times first" said Sephiroth who was standing next to Cloud "try to make reaction times quicker"

"Good idea" said Tifa hastily, noticing that Barret was about to put forward his own views

"Okay we'll have to spread out first"

**********

By the time the group was ready, four teams had been set up and three different formations, a defensive, normal and offensive, were established with the help of Sephiroth. Cid decided to land the rocket in rocket town where it belonged. Then they went into the main part of the town, where they asked if anyone had seen anything that looked suspicious, apart from the fact that Cid had got his rocket working. They found from someone new to the town, that someone had taken over Gongaga and had rebuilt the old Mako reactor to create monsters. They all thanked him, then found the Highwind and headed off.

"Geez" said Jin to Cid when they had took off "This thing sure is tiny compared to the rocket"

"Hey!" shouted Cid and turned to Jin, still controlling the ship "How dare you insult the Highwind! This is my pride and joy"

"Yeah right, I still say it's way to small!"

Cid brought his weapon up close to Jins face and said "Say that to my Venus Gospel you ungrateful little B******d!"

Then Lei stepped in and said "I hate to ruin a perfectly good fight, but who's controlling the ship?"

Cid turned to look at the huge window screen. A mountain loomed ahead. "Oh S**t!" Cid shouted and jumped to the controls, dodging just in time. "You're a damned lucky B*****d Jin, but you won't be so lucky next time"

In the chocobo stable, an unusual place for an aircraft, Aeris, Sephiroth, Reeve, Sophitia, Cloud, Vincent and Taki sat on the straw, planning how to get Jenova.

"The problem is" said Cloud interrupting Sephiroth, who had assumed that Gongaga looked the same now as it always was. "we can't be certain if it looks the same. They may have tricked the villagers into helping them by rebuilding everything. We've been out in space much longer than Jenova, remember."

Sephiroth contemplated this, then said "We'll just have to wait and find out then. I say we look at Gongaga from the Highwind, as high as possible, then establish what's changed."

"I'll go tell Cid now then" said Vincent, he got to the door when Taki said "I'll come with you" Vincent agreed, a little uncertainly, and as they left the stable Taki said "Ya, know Vince', you've gotta lighten up a bit. Don't be so rigid when you walk. You look as though the end of the world is nigh! Not even I'm that cold."

Vincent looked at her as if to say he thought the word _was_ going to end, then said "Yeah, you're right" Then he tried to walk a bit more relaxed, but ended up looking like a penguin "is this better?" he asked.

Taki shook her head and laughed "Never mind" she said, then burst out laughing.

**********

"Sephiroth" said Aeris, a little doubtfully "can I have a word?"

Sephiroth turned to Aeris and shrugged "Yeah, what about"

"Well, I just want to say, I forgive you, for stabbing me in the Ancient city. You were under Jenova's influence, it wasn't your fault"

Sephiroth shook his head and said "You have no need to say that, I should be saying sorry for stabbing you I n the first place. I should have been able to control myself and think things through logically, instead of going and killing people."

Aeris smiled and said "Thanks" She turned to look at Cloud then and said "I knew you and Cloud were brothers, you know"

Sephiroth looked at Aeris in shock and said "You did?!?"

"Yeah sure. Unlike human children, Cetra children can remember everything right up to their birth. Me and Cloud were taken away together, thanks to my father."

Sephiroth turned to look at Cloud, who was talking to Reeve and Sophitia. "Why didn't you tell Cloud?" he said without looking at her.

Aeris looked at, or rather through Sephiroth, with a distant look in her eyes "I don't know. Maybe I never got round to it, or maybe I didn't want him to know." Sephiroth turned to look at her, she still looked past him "I know what his reaction would have been. He would have been worse to you if he knew you were both related."

"Or he would have gone mad himself" Sephiroth contemplated "then the planet wouldn't have stood a chance"

Aeris looked worried then and said "That's a good point! Imagine if I'd've told Cloud you were brothers we wouldn't be here now."

Cloud came over and said "Who wouldn't be here now??"

"Er, its a long storyy" said Aeris.

**********

"We're there" said Cid proudly, just as Cloud came in.

"great, let's take a look" said Cloud walking up behind Cid. What they saw was not the old Gongaga, instead there was a vast, beautiful and rich city where Gongaga used to be. A huge Mako reactor stood bold and proud, where the old one had been. Not a street in Gongaga suggested that a Mako reactor had exploded there.

"Jesus Christ!" exclaimed Cid in stunned shock.

"Somebody pinch me, I don't think I'm awake yet" said Yuffie, at which point Law playfully nipped her, earning a surprised giggle off her.

"What's wrong?" asked Hwoarang puzzled by the shocked look on Cid, Yuffie, Barret, Tifa, Cloud, Vincent, Reeve, Aeris, Sephiroth, and Nanakis faces.

"Yeah" said Seung Mina who was next to him "It's beautiful"

"That ain't' what it's supposed to look like" said Barret still in shock.

"Yeah, Gongaga's supposed to be run down" said Reeve, squeezing Sophitias' hand.

"Jenova-Infinity has certainly been doing her homework!" said Nanaki in agreement.

Cloud turned to the others and said "C'mon guys, pull yourselves together, we've got a war to win!"

"Yeah" said Mitsurugi in agreement "let's go save the planets"

**********

Rock jumped down from the Highwind, past those who had decided to take the ladder, and landed without a problem. He raised his axe and shouted "We're gonna kick some butt! Hurry up you guys!"

When they finally all got out, Cloud said "We'll all get into our groups and take separate routes okay?"

They all split up into their groups, then headed in different directions, so that it wasn't to obvious. Jins' team decided to take the long way and target the north of Gongaga, Hwangs team took the west, Vincent's team the centre and Clouds team headed for the reactor. As they headed north, however, Jin noticed someone in the distance. He stopped the rest of his team and said "Heihachi!" Then he shouted at the top of his lungs "Heihachi!"

Heihachi turned, then smiled. That imbecile grandson of his, Jin! He'd show Jin! He ran, at superhuman speed towards Jin, and lunged at him with his right hand weapon. But as the weapon speed towards Jin, Stilfire shot forward, parrying the attach that would have killed Jin.

"Ah" said Heihachi and started laughing "I see you've got friends to do your dirty work now, eh?"

"Stilfire!" said Jin keeping his eyes on Heihachi "let me handle him" Stilfire lowered his weapon uncertainly and backed off. No-one noticed the figure behind Heihachi. 

"Do you know why you have the Devil in you, Jin" asked Heihachi mockingly "It's because your father, Kazuya made a pact with the Devil. That he and all his successors would house the Devils' spirit in return for supreme power. But I have more power than the Devil, I have the power of all the deceased Jenovas in this Soul Edge. They are trapped you see, and the bearer houses all their spirits. That is why no Jenova can touch this, it would instantly kill any Jenova that touched it."

Voldo then walked up next to Heihachi and said "Thank you for that little speech" he then slashed his iron claw across Heihachis' face, forced the Soul Edge from him and said "Heihachi never was worthy enough of this weapon. I think I'll relieve him of it" Voldo laughed and turned to run but Link, Paul, Yuffie, Tifa and Cid were in the way.

"We're not gonna let you go without a fight" said Paul.

"Yeah, that weapon's evil" said Tifa

Voldo simply turned, and jumped clean over Heihachi and Jin, but Stilfire was quicker. He ran to meet Voldo, then shouted "ELEMENTAL LIGHT!" He stopped still, put his staff on his shoulder and began a series of complex gestures with his left hand. Voldo, slightly confused, foolishly walked towards Stilfire, and he was about to raise his sword when he suddenly became aware of a rumbling sound. Suddenly a dark, black cloud appeared above them all, and lightning began striking around various points in the group. Then one bolt of lightning hit Voldo, electricity began surging though him, but because of the Soul Edge it didn't kill him. But that wasn't the end, it began raining heavily, or rather began raining hail, but it only hit Voldo. Enormous blocks of ice hit him square on the head. Suddenly another rumble began, and an enormous crevice appeared below Voldo, he tripped and fell in, but grabbed onto the side, still being bombarded by hailstone. Then it stopped and the cloud disappeared. Voldo sighed and began lifting himself up, he was about to say something when he heard something else. Then he noticed Stilfire was still making hand gestures. Voldo turned, a huge wave was coming in from the shore, it was bigger than the rocket. * That's not normal * thought Voldo to the Soul Edge * how? *

Before the Soul Edge could reply, the wave crashed into Voldo, cutting short just before Stilfire and the others. Voldo, soaking wet and now pulling himself out of the crevice, shouted "Goddamn you!" Suddenly another crevice came from the original, knocking Voldo back in. He suddenly became very hot, and noticed lava, rising up out of the crevice. "NO!" he screamed as it reached his feet. He struggled desperately to get out, but it reached his chest and then cooled remarkably quickly. Voldo was set in rock up to to his chest. "Soul Edge help me!" he shouted in a panic. He looked up at Stilfire, he was now holding his sharp pointed staff with two hands, and it was now glowing yellow, but strangely enough it looked more like it was made out of pure light. Stilfire brought the staff down on Voldo, smashing the rock trapping him at the same time.

Voldo barely alive, pulled himself out, at which point the crevice filled itself in. The Soul Edge began glowing brightly, electricity sparked around Voldo as he transformed into a fiery form, which looked like a Jenova. "I've no time for you foolish children, I'm going to find blood!" it said in a tinny, cold voice. It then floated from the ground and flew off. The others still in shock, didn't notice Heihachi get up. He ran at Jin, and went into a flying kick.

Jin, hearing something, turned, in time to see Heihachis' foot hit his shoulder. Jin stumbled back then looked at Heihachi, his eyes beginning to glow red and shouted "I'll kill you Grandfather!" He then ran at Heihachi, beginning a series of punches and shouted "KAZUYAS' DEVIL!" Heihachi swallowed hard, just as Jin began transforming into a lilac coloured devil. It's evil red glowing eyes stayed on Heihachi as he became less and less keen on life. Fully transformed the devil spread its wings out and said **"Father, how dare you use my son for your own ends, for power! You will die unpleasantly" **The devil slashed him from left to right across his face **"This is for trying to kill me!" **It then did an axe kick, raising its leg, hitting Heihachi as it did, then brought it down on him. **"And this is for using my son, Jin, to gain power for your own ends" **Then its eyes began glowing yellow **"And this is for trying to kill my son!"** Heihachi knew what was coming now. He turned to run but the laser beam hit him in the head, penetrating it and coming out the other side. But Heihachi didn't bleed, he just fell forward and landed in the soft muddy grass. The devil then walked up to his lifeless body, grabbed it by the collar and raised it from the ground. The devil closed its eyes and began draining the life from Heihachi. It then began transforming back into Jin, as the energy continued flowing though him. At the same time Heihachi's body gradually faded away until there was nothing left.

Jin opened his eyes and said "I've finally put my fathers demon to rest. The devil's spirit has left me!" he looked down at his feet and no-one said anything for a while. Cid was the one to finally break the silence.

"C'mon guys, we've got a universe to save!" he said "We can't sit around here all day doing F**k all"

"I can't be bothered!" said Jin sitting on a rock nearby "you guys go, I'll stay here"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" asked Paul standing right in front of Jin "It's no good feelin' sorry for yourself, our planet's in danger, now get of your @$$ and follow us!"

"Get F*****d, I'm staying here. I've lost all my power now that the devil had left my soul"

"You've not lost your power" said Link standing beside Paul "I asked Navi. If anything you've become more powerful because you drained his life!"

"Who the hell's Navi" asked Jin grumpily. Suddenly a small glowing object appeared from on of Links' pockets "I am" it said.

"She's my fairy, she has the ability to sense the status of everything I ask for" said Link stooping down to come eye to eye with Jin "So stop feeling sorry for yourself and help us!"

"Goddamn it!" said Jin standing up "Alright, I'll help if you need me that badly!"

As the group set off, Jin smiled. For once in his life he was actually wanted, and someone gave a damn about him.

**********

Cloud stopped and looked up. The Gongaga reactor was right in front of them. Now he needed to wait for the creature that would appear at any minute.

"What are we waiting for, let's go in and kick @$$" said Law impatiently

Sephiroth turned to Law and said "Hasn't your dad ever told you to be patient?!"

Law frowned "Yeah, frequently! Apparently you can't master Martial arts without it"

"Well now's a good time to practice!" said Cloud

Then Mitsurugi said "pardon me if I seem a bit impatient, but why ARE we waiting here?"

Then Aeris joined in "Because we've learned from experience that if we run in there, we're gonna get jumped by a monster. If we wait here it has to come to us!"

"Cool" said Seung Mina "another fight!"

Suddenly there was a rumbling, and two creatures appeared. "I don't believe it, APS! We killed that thing in a sewer ages ago!"

"That's not the end of it!" said Sephiroth "That thing called ROCHAK, I killed that thing when I was in SOLDIER. It's a damned awkward thing to fight."

Just then Aps swung its chain at Cloud, who ducked just missing it.

"It's time to fight" said Cloud

"Good luck . . .Little bro" said Sephiroth running at Rochak. Cloud shook his head and ran towards Aps.

**********

Vincent looked round the town and said "It would be a good idea if we asked them what happened, you know."

Barret looked all round him and said "This bites wind. How come we ain't doin' any fighting?"

"Because there might be something here that'll attack Clouds group, that's why" said Nanaki. Aenisa looked around, a frightened look on her face. "There is something here, I can sense it!" Nanaki looked at Aenisa and said "You can sense danger?"

Aenisa nodded, still looking around "Yeah, but it's an inner strength, all our people have different inner strengths, and we learn to use them." 

Nanaki looked down and said "I don't have an inner strength"

Aenisa looked at Nanaki, smiles and said "Oh, you do, everyone does, you just probably don't know how to use it yet."

Suddenly a waterfall nearby, which had a statue of a woman with two buckets, began rumbling, and started moving to one side. This revealed a large hole filled with water.

"Have you noticed" said Hwoarang "The streets are deserted!"

"They knew" said Lei.

They all readied their weapons and got into battle stance. Then Taki noticed that the water was rippling. "There's something in there that's biding its time" she pointed to the ripples, from which a tentacle emerged, followed by the body of a huge creature, it didn't have any eyes, and its huge webbed feet appeared as it pulled itself out of the water. It had all sorts of strange substances stuck to it, and the group noticed the head of a dead villager stuck to it. Suddenly the eyes of the head opened and it spoke "Cutchiama, trilothar, niear!" A red light suddenly engulfed the group as they desperately tried to get away. 

**********

Li Long looked up at the thing that had suddenly flown in from the sky. It looked like the devil, Jin transformed into, but bigger. It laughed then swung it's claws at Li Long, who caught it with his nunchucka chain and twisted. The devil screamed out in pain and its wrist cracked and broke. It looked furious. Hwang then ran up to it, stabbed left with his sword, then right, then did a flying kick, hitting it in the chest. He span around with a second kick, still in the air and finished with a mid-air axe kick. The devil, now marked with an x on its chest growled loudly, and span around, knocking Sophitia away with its tail. Reeve ran straight towards Sophitia, casting regen on her, he then stooped down and said "Sophitia, don't die on me please! You're the only one who ever really cared about me"

Sophitia looked into Reeves eyes and said "What about your parents, surely your mother loved you?!"

Reeve looked away "My father was an uncaring SOLDIER, and my mom left me in the slums, where I grew up" he said.

Sophitia frowned and tears began coming from her eyes "I'm so sorry" she said, appearing to get better.

"Don't be" said Reeve, smiling meekly "You just get better" He stood up and turned to look at the devil, Hwang, Li Long and Xiaoyu were on the ground, exhausted. Reeve cast regen on them, then pulled out his night-stick, and shouted "VENGEFUL GODS!" he then set his night stick to full power, and began spinning it, as an electrified whirlwind formed, and set off towards the devil. The devil after being hit once more by Rocks enormous axe screamed, and started to fly away, but was caught by the whirlwind. It spun around and around, electricity surging through it and screaming in agony, then fell to the ground when, at last Reeves' limit break finished. Reeve then walked up to the devil calmly, which was barely alive and said "Go back to hell!" He then kicked its head as hard as he could, knocking it off the body, the head then burst into flames and disintegrated. The rest of the group looked at Reeve in shocked silence, then Hwang said "You couldn't teach me that, could you?"

Then Sophitia came up and said "Thanks, if it weren't for you, we probably would have died" Rock looked down at his feet sorrowfully "and you Rock" she continued.

"Yeah, thanks for softening him up for me" Reeve reassured Rock.

"Gee, it was nothin'" said Rock as they set off.

"I think now would be a good idea to find the others and get to the reactor" said Li Long "If that things anything to go by, the others'll be in deep S**T" At this point they all agreed that it would be a good idea to run.

**********

Tifa was first to notice the light that was shining just past the reactor. She told the others and they decided to head for it, it could be another group in trouble. Cid the stopped and said "It's comin' towards us!"

"Don't be stupid, it's just 'cos we're goin' towards it" said Jin.

"Cid's right" said Link and Stilfire at the same time, they looked at each other, surprised.

"S**t, It's comin' towards us, and it's fast" said Paul, turning to make a hasty retreat. But they were all too late. The red light engulfed them all, as Tifa screamed "Cloud, where are. . ."

**********

Cloud got up and brushed himself off, after Aps had don sewer tsunami. That meant it was almost dead, time to finish it off. "OMNISLASH!" shouted Cloud as fire began encircling him. Aps confused hesitated. When the fire cleared, Cloud jumped at it and did a series of attacks on Aps. He did it to a rhythm, which caused Mitsurugi, and Seung Mina, who were also fighting Aps, to stand back and watch in admiration. Meanwhile Forest, Aeris and Sephiroth were fighting Rochak, a four armed, floating, legless creature which kept disappearing and reappearing, making it hard to hit. As Law swung his nunchukas at it, one of its arms swung at him. It knocked him back, but not without getting slashed on the arm with the blade on Laws' weapon.

Aeris, who was spellcasting, said to Sephiroth "Have you ever heard of joint limit breaks?"

"Kind of, yeah, but they're a pain to do, you've gotta get everything bang on right!" Sephiroth then cut one of its arms, spilling gallons of blood.

"Well I was taught on the Cetra planet how they work. We have to say the name of it at the same time, then each do our own limit breaks" said Aeris, casting cure 3 on Law.

"Sounds easy" mocked Sephiroth "What's it called?"

"Peaceful rage!" said Aeris grinning.

**********

Hwang, Li Long, Reeve, Sophitia, Rock and Xiaoyu got to the battle ground in time to see Clouds group. Then Reeve notice Sephiroth and Aeris, side by side, as they both shouted in unison "PEACEFUL RAGE!" The sky went dark, the floor below the creature they were attacking began to bubble. It looked down and screamed. Reeve suddenly noticed how relaxed he felt, Aeris must have used a cure spell. Suddenly, Sephiroth jumped up, brought his sword down on the creature, then began slashing at it repeatedly. Aeris was in deep concentration and Reeve noticed a ball of pure Holy building in front of her. He didn't know how he knew it was holy, he just did. As suddenly as Sephiroth had started attacking, he stopped and moved out of the way of Aeris. Then the ball of energy before her began moving towards the creature, picking up momentum, and finally crashing into the monster. 

Mitsurugi ran Aps through when the two had finished and everybody crowded round Sephiroth and Aeris.

"How'd ya do that?" asked Reeve in admiration.

"We've no time for that . . Look!" said Cloud pointing behind them.

"Oh my god!" said Xiaoyu as the red light came towards them.

**********

The entire group found themselves in the same place, at the same time, in some huge room. Mauled bodies hung from chains from the ceiling, fresh blood still dripping from them, and Cloud realised that, although filled with red blood all over the walls and floor, the room was meant to be grey. He looked round the entire room, which was filled with a red light, but couldn't find the source. The whole group then crowded round Cloud as he said "Well, I suppose we'll have to find a way out"

They all began searching the walls, albeit reluctantly. Then Seung Mina said "I hope whatever lives here doesn't come back any time soon"

Taki, who was checking the bodies said "This one doesn't seem to have any injuries, I wonder how it . . ."

She never finished her sentence, the body suddenly fell to the ground as she spoke, making her jump back in shock. It then began to lift itself from the ground and began groaning "Blood!"

Everyone began moving away from the bodies, as one by one they all fell loose from their chains and got up, heading towards the first person they saw. Rock wasn't going to let these things worry him. He flung his axe at one, ripping its body in two. The legs fell to the ground, but to everyone's horror the rest of the body dragged itself relentlessly after Rock, who brought his axe down on it, cutting down the middle.

Another dropped down next to Seung Mina, who let out a scream and began hitting it with her Nagatina. Unfortunately, her weapon had little effect on it, it grabbed her and began gnawing at her neck as she desperately tried to pull it off. Suddenly it was pulled back, and a sword emerged from its chest. As it fell to the ground, it revealed Hwang. Seung Mina looked down at her feet, then at Hwang "Gee, thanks, so you really do care about me?"

Hwang smiled "Of course, you're my masters daughter, and wife- to -be hopefully"

Seung Mina smiled, then gasped in shock as she noticed a zombie behind Hwang. Hwang turned to hit it, but found that Hwoarang had already used his two swords to dissect it into three parts. "Thanks, looks like I owe you one" said Hwang. Hwoarang nodded in acknowledgement, then went to carry on fighting.

Meanwhile, Jin was having some trouble. Without a weapon, he was defenceless - all he had were the gloves Tifa had lent him. The zombie he was trying to fend off reached out to grab him, but suddenly went stiff. Cloud pulled out his sword and said "You owe me one!" then walked off and began fighting another zombie. 

Jin in fury, kicked at the zombie on the ground, knocking its head away and said F**k him!"

Then Hwoarang went to Jins side and said "Jin, I think that thing's dead now!"

Jin turned to him and said "Get F****d!!!" Hwoarang shrugged and left Jin to fend off other zombies.

Further in the room Reeve, Taki, Vincent and Sophitia were all fending off a whole arsenal of zombies. However, they just kept coming. "get them all together, I've got an idea" shouted Reeve, setting his night stick. He then waited for the right time. Then he prodded his night stick into the first zombie to come near him. This one, which was touching another, went stiff and fell back, electrocuting others. Reeve carried on this technique, noticing one that had got past someone. As he heard it, he turned, but was too late to do anything. It grabbed him and began gnawing at him. He pushed it down, then dug his heel in its face, crushing it.

Vincent meanwhile had turned into CHAOS and was smashing zombies into each other. He noticed as he downed another that Sephiroth was having no trouble at all, and he, Aeris and Cloud were watching each others backs. He smiled, Lucrecias' son was fighting on the side of good. Then Vincent suddenly realised that he hadn't talked to Sephiroth about himself and his relationship with Lucrecia. He'd have to tell him when this was over, if he lived that long.

Xiaoyu swung her staff at another zombie. This weapon was no good * It's too heavy * she thought * How does Aeris use it? * Suddenly a zombie grabbed her staff and pulled it away from her as another grabbed her from behind. She screamed the first name that came into her head. "JIN, Help me!!!" she shouted repeatedly. Jin turned and saw what was happening, this was too much for him. He didn't know how or why, but he'd grown fond of Xiaoyu. He became furious and his eyes began glowing read. A word emerged in his head and urged him to say it. "IFRIT!"

**********

Sephiroth turned to see the source of heat. It was the summon god IFRIT, but it was moving and fighting freely, burning every zombie it came across. Yuffies' Conformer shot through numerous zombies before a blast of heat roasted those she missed. Xiaoyu who was still tackling two zombies, felt a sudden rush of heat. A demonic face looked at her as the two zombies attacking her fell to the floor in flames. "Er, th . thanks, I think" she said nervously.

"You're welcome" said Jin-IFRIT in a deep roaring voice. Jin-IFRIT continued to burn zombies as they fell in tens. Aeris meanwhile had used her Great Gospel spell, while Sephiroth did his supernova attack.

"This is great!" shouted Rock to Mitsurugi "I never even had this much fun when fighting you, and that was good"

Mitsurugi smiled as he cut down two more zombies "So you think me a worthy opponent do you? I could kick your @$$ given another chance. But I have to admit, I've never seen this much bloodshed in my life!"

Cloud, his limit break exceeding its normal strength, began plowing through those zombies others missed, and Lie fired at those twitching on the ground, whilst Paul flung another zombie over his head that was integrated onto his spear. Cid realising the battle was over, pulled out his cigars and said "Anyone else want one?"

This got a reaction out of Paul and Lei, who weren't that far away from him, and they all smoked their cigars, surveying the carnage. Stilfire put his shades on, and leaned his stick on his shoulder "That was child's play!" he said "I didn't even need to use my ultimate attack"

Cloud turned to Stilfire and jumped in surprise "Don't do that to me!" he said as Sephiroth and Aeris walked up next to him.

"He looked remarkably like that Turk called Reno!" Sephiroth noticed. Before anyone could say another word, the walls began to rumble. Aeris, who had tripped over a zombie, cast shield on herself quickly, knocking away one piece of rubble. But then loads more began to fall, Sephiroth grabbed Aeris and jumped out of the way, avoiding an avalanche of what looked like stone. When the dust finally settled, Cloud realised that the room hadn't been a room at all, but a small, box shaped building. He carefully looked up at the ceiling. It was drifting in mid-air.

"RUN!" shouted Cloud. This caused the entire group to spread out, and just in time. The floating ceiling crashed to the ground, falling to pieces. Li Long looked down at one piece and realised that it was melting and moulding itself. It then headed towards the centre, where, most of the rubble was. If fact all the rubble was merging back together.

"It's morphing!" said Link in fascination.

"Jesus Christ!!" shouted Barret as the rubble began to morph into a figure.

"That's the creature from the waterfall!" shouted Lie as he reloaded his gun and fired at the creature, but the bullet had no effect.

"ARGHHH!" shouted Sephiroth holding his head in pain.

"What wro . .ARGHH" shouted Cloud, also holding his head.

"Jenova" Shouted Sephiroth

Chapter 9 - The struggle 

Cloud and Sephiroth both fell to their knees in pain.  
"Cloud, whats wrong?" asked Tifa as her and Aeris ran over to Cloud and Sephiroth. Rock sensing a great fight began swinging his axe back and forth though the creature, but each time its body subconsciously morphed around the weapon, not even scratching it.  
The Reeve ran towards it, and tried to use his night stick, but his weapon simply shorted out, and the creature retaliated by hitting Reeve with a surprisingly powerful punch, sending him flying.  
"Reeve!!" shouted Sophitia running over to see if he was alright. Nanaki, then tried to use fire 3 on it, and it began steaming, but it immediatly cast a regen spell on itself that was more powerful then the normal regen.  
"It's no good, this thing's too hard!" shouted Yuffie as she used flare on the creature.   
Link then ran up to the creature, and a barrier of fire appeared around him, them spread out, damaging the creature badly. But then it used an attack that was similar to Sephiroths' Heartless Angel, but it absorbed all the energy the group lost. Then it swung one of its tentacles towards the group. Stilfire shouted "Light!" and morphed into pure light, just in time to avoid the blow. He then morphed back into his normal form and shouted "LIGHT RAVE!!" Fire surrounded Stilfire, and when it faded, he ran towards the monster, his staff transforming into pure light. He thrust the staff forward into the creature, and a powerful barrier of light completly surrounded him, then spread out. The members of the group were cured by the limit skill, just enough for them to cure themselves, but the creature wasn't so lucky. The light hit it, as it began bubbling and boiling, and turning into steam. Its regen spell wasn't quick enough to catch up with the atack, and soon there was nothing left of either the creature or the building. There wasn't even any bodies.  
However Cloud and Sephiroth were still stuggling to fight Jenova out of their heads.  
"Cloud, Sephiroth, close your eyes and when I tell you, say ' Cetra silence'" Aeris said bringing out some fire coloured materia, much the same as the Universe materia. She closed her eyes and concentrated, then said "Now!"  
They both said it at exactly the same time, and fire appeared around them both. Two spirits suddenly appeared over Cloud and Sephiroth momentarily, then faded quickly into them, one each. The anguish both of them shared suddenly ceased, Cloud sighed and said "What was that?"  
Aeris smiled and said "Two Cetras entered your bodies, to help fight off Jenovas link to you. When they succeed completly they'll leave your bodies, but until then, you'll get pains running through your head every so . . ."  
"Jesus Christ!" exclaimed Sephiroth, grabbing his head in pain.  
". .Often" said Aeris regretfully.  
"Thanks" said Cloud "That means we'll both finally be free of Jenova!"  
"Let's hope so!" said Cid. As Sephiroth walked towards him, Cid walked off out of the way "Have you got a problem?"Asked Sephiroth looking at Cid "If you do, get it off your chest!"  
Cid turned to Sephiroth "Have I got a problem?! Have I got a F*****g problem?! Well, how 'bout the fact that you're a F*****g Psycho for a start!"  
"Ah, your not worth the bother" Sephiroth said, walking past him.  
"Look you F*****g @$$hole, hey!, Look at me when I'm talkin' to you!"  
"Get . . stuffed!" Sephiroth replied, deliberately avoiding swearing in the presence of Aeris.  
"Cid, chill out a bit" said Paul walking up next to him, "You guys told us what he did, and I think he deserves a second chance"  
Cid kicked at a stone "Second chance, my @$$!" and walked off.  
"Sephiroth, I have something to tell you" said Vincent, walking up next to Sephiroth.  
"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked, realising that he didn't even know anybodys names yet.  
"My name's Vincent Valentine. I knew your mother Lucrecia well"  
"Oh yes, professor Gast and Cloud told me all about you. You loved my mother, and when you found out what Hojo" Sephiroth spat in disgust at this point "was going to do, you tried to save us. But he caught you and did all sorts of experiments on you. You used to be in the Turks"  
Vincent smiled "I see you have been well informed. I don't know much about you, though, except what happened when you thought Jenova was your mother."  
As they walked, all the group chatted, trying not to let the fact that Jenova was around, get the better of them. Both Nanaki and Aenisa, however, were silent. Neither could think what to say. Then Aenisa finally spoke "Er, Nanaki, why don't I try and teach you how to use your inner strength?" she recommended.  
"Good idea" said Nanaki "how does it work?"  
From further back Aeris noticed this and smiled. Finally they were trying to get to know one another. She glanced over at Sephiroth, who was talking to Vincent, but turned away quickly when he turned. He knew she was looking at him, but smiled and carried on talking to Vincent. Vincent could notice this between the two, but continued on as if he hadn't. Aeris continued to think about Sephiroth * how could he have done the things he did? * she thought but then reaslised, Hojo, he had ruined millions of lives, all for the sake of research. He had destroyed the life of Sephiroth, the most brave and powerful person she knew, and Cloud, a brave warrior, but less sure of himself sometimes, and very shy. He had also ruined her life, or at least her first life, but she tried not to think about that. Self pity wasn't in her repertoire. She had no time for it, she cared for others not herself. She cared for Avalanche, the people of the planet, Sephiroth . . . . .

**Chapter 10 - The final battle **

"What do you mean, they've killed all our monsters?! Is this some kind of joke!?" asked Jenova furiously.  
"I'm not kidding, Aps, Devil, Rochak, even the Serpent-morph has been exterminated" replied Krinost, a look of worry on his face. "Damn! Deploy the stalfos army immediately to intercept them!" shouted Ganondorf. Krinost nodded and left, and Jenova said "I was about to say that! Why do you always have to undermine whatever I do or say?!" she asked, still in a bad mood.  
"Relax, I wasn't trying to deliberately undermine you, my dear. Oh and I have something for you!" He took a red box and got down on one knee, then opened the box. Inside was a ring, fashioned to look like a twisting snake, which although it twisted all over the place, the head and tail met at the ends. "Will, you marry me Jenova-Infinity?" Ganon asked in a surprisingly normal voice.  
Jenovas jaw dropped, and she took the ring hesitantly. She tried it on, a perfect fit. "Yes, Yes I will, Ganon my love!" said Jenova gleefully. Ganon ordered some wine, and poured a glass each for them both "To the start of a beautiful relationship, with a beautiful woman!" said Ganon as they clinked their glasses together. Suddenly Krinost burst in "Sir, Mistress, they've somehow managed to get in!"

**********

The corridors, although quite wide, could only allow four people at a time so the weakest of the group stayed in the center. As they went down the corridor, ploughing though stalfos soldiers, Cloud asked Sephiroth "Who's gonna finish Jenova, me or you?"  
Sephiroth shrugged "We'll both kick her @$$!"  
Cloud laughed "Great idea!" They suddenly stopped, there was more than one corridor now. Four corridors lay ahead of them, with two more, one at either side of the group. They decided to sent Jin, Cid, Nanaki, Aenisa and Lei through the left corridor, and Paul, Stilfire, Tifa and Link went right. Then Hwoarang, Barret, Xiaoyu and Yuffie went diagonally right, Vincent, Taki, Sophitia and Reeve went top right. Li Long, Hwang, Rock and Seung Mina went through the top left corridor, and Cloud, Mitsurugi, Sephiroth, Forest and Aeris took the diagonnaly left corridor. Cloud then gave Hwang a PHS, and showed him quickly how to use it, then said "If you find Jenova, contact us on this and we'll get to you as soon as we can"  
Hwang put the PHS in his pocket "Great, let's get going then" They all split up and set off.

**********

As they continued down the corridor, Link got an increasing awareness of Zelda. "Follow me" he shouted and went down a smaller corridor, the others in pursuit. He stopped outside a particular room, and the others dealt with guards coming down the corridor.  
Zelda concentrated some more, she tried to tell Link the password. Link however wasn't gettting anything, he could sense that she was telling him that it had three points.  
"Tri-force" said Link "It has to be!" he typed it in and the door opened. but as Link tried to walk through, he heard Zelda say "No! The password is pyramids!" but it was too late. Link was shot back by an electrical blast, and the door closed. Suddenly an alarm above them rang into life.  
"S**t!" swore Paul as Tifa cast fullcure on Link. Link got up and said "Thanks" as Stilfire finished punching the real password in and ran into the room. Inside however, there were several doors and they couldn't tell which one Zelda was in.  
"All we need to do is open 'em all, right?" said Paul, walking towards one at random.  
"It's not as simple as that" said Zelda, from what seemed like everywhere "all the others have monsters in them!"  
"Light!!" said Stilfire, once again transforming into a sentient form of pure light. He then walked through a door. "Jesus Christ!!" came a voice from everywher, and Stilfire came back out "Do not tough that door!" said his light form. He then went into another cell, "Zelda, at last!" he appeared again, and morphed back into his normal form, then opened the door "at last you're safe" He took the lightning pendent off from around his neck "I believe this is yours" he said handing it over to Zelda.  
"Thankyou" she said smiling as he gave it her "but we've got to stop Ganondorf, quickly. I know the way, follow me!" She left the room and they went back the way they came. Whn they got to the six paths, Zelda looked, saw the diagonally left path and said "It's this one" Tifa immediately took out her PHS and Cloud answered "Cloud, it's your path, we've found someone who knows the way, were headin' there now. Wait for us and PHS the others." they then began down the corridor as Tifa put her PHS away.

**********

As Sephiroth, Mitsurugi and Forest fought the stalfos army off, Aeris and Cloud both PHS'ed everyone who didn't know yet about which path was the right one. When they finished they also began, Aeris suddenly got a limit break, and shouted "FURY BRAND!" Cloud OMNISLASHed along the soldiers and Sephiroth used HEARTLESS ANGEL to put them down to one health point, leaving Forest to plow through them with his nunchukas and his new limit skill, WARRIORS DREAM.  
Just as they defeated the immediate threat, they heard the other group approching. "C'mon, quick!" shouted Cloud.   
Zelda went to Cloud and said "Follow me, quickly, we don't have much time!"  
"Much time for what?" asked Sephiroth confused.  
"They're gonna merge Ganondorf's Tri-force piece with something they call Black materia!"  
"We've gotta hurry" shouted Aeris "If they do that, the other two Tri-force pieces won't matter! They'll both become gods!"

**********

Barret, Yuffie, Xiaoyu and Hwoarang ran as fast as they could through the corridors. Barret continuously fired at the stalfos soldiers, meaning that only Yuffie needed to use her shuriken for those he missed. As he got to the crossroads they met Nanakis team, about to go down the other corridor, and Hwangs team came out a bit after.  
"I think it would be a good idea to wait for Vincent's team" said Nanaki  
"But what if they're already down there?" asked Jin pointing down the corridor leading to Jenova. But Cid had already begun phoning them on his PHS.  
"Yeah, we're just coming now" came Reeves reply to Cid.  
"I think Nanaki's right then. We should wait til Vincents team gets here" said Lei sorting out the 'Time' and 'Restore' materia Cid had given him a while ago. He began casting 'Haste' on the rest of the group, as they waited for the last group to get there.

**********

Jenova took out the Black materia and said "It is time!" Ganao smiled, and showed the back of his hand, the Tri-force piece glowing. "They're almost here, hurry" he said patiently.  
Krinost suddenly burst into the room, and shouted "They're here, the soldiers are dead!"  
"No duh!" said Jenova jokingly, but nevertheless quickly pushed the Black materia onto Ganons hand. Gold and black energy erupted from the hand of Ganon, and surrounded Jenova and Ganon, just as Link burst in. He looked at Krinost, then at the two merging figures.  
"We're too late! they've begun merging!"  
Cloud then burst in and ran towards them. just as he got near the energy cleared, and a figure like Ganondorf but with tentacles and wings said **"The marriage of Ganondorf and Jenova-INFINITY is complete! We are now the god of pure evil!!"**  
Cloud began attacking Ganon-INFINITY, but each cut he made healed immediatly. Mitsurugi then burst in and helped, as did the rest, but none of it had any effect. Meanwhile Link was using his sword and sorcery on Krinost. He knocked the laser gun out of Krinost's tentacle and said "You're gonna pay dearly for what you did to my people!"  
Suddenly a bolt of lightning hit Krinost, stunning him, it was Zelda with her pendant "Finish him off Link!" she said. She then used her powers to hold Krinost. Link then brought down the sword and held it near Krinosts neck, as Krinost said "Your king said a hero would come for revenge. Do you think spilling my blood will bring your people back?"  
"No, you're right" said Link, looking away, then he looked at Krinost and said "but it'll make me feel better!" Link brought his sword across, cutting Krinost's head off. He then said "Three goddesses of Hyrule, forgive me, for I have killed in vengeance. However, I have also destroyed the sinner that destroyed Hyrule, and for that I ask for your blessing!"  
Zelda smiled, then said "As new queen of Hyrule, I forgive my brother, Link, for spilling blood in vengeance. Three goddesses please share and understand my sympathy.!"  
Cloud was then knocked back towards Link, he got up and felt around in his materia bag, pulling out a fiery red materia "I hope this works!" he muttered "UNIVERSE!!" The rest of the group faded, and so did the building, and the planet, and all the other planets, then all the suns as well. All that was left was Ganon-INFINITY and a huge black abyss.  
**"This is Infinity!" **boomed a deep empty voice** "I am UNIVERSE master of all gods, and evil like you should not be allowed the gift of life!"** A small light then appeared befor Ganon-INFINITY, an grew and grew, Ganon-INFINITY tried to run away from it, but couldn't move. The light eventually filled the abyss, capturing Ganon-INFINITY, then the light quickly shrank and imploded. Then everything reappeared, even the black materia and the Tri-force piece. Cloud then fell to the ground in pain and fatigue.  
Link pulled out a bottle and opeded it quickly. From it emerged a pink light, that buzzed around a bit, then went towards Cloud and vanished into him. A pink glow surrounded Cloud, then turned green and then vanished as Cloud got up. "Oh my head!"  
Link stared at Cloud "Something happened to you just then, you glowed!"  
Cloud's eyes suddenly crackled and sparked, and greenish-pink light came from them. The light turned into a ball, went to each member of the group, cured them, then returned to Cloud.  
"I know what it is" said Aeris in amazement "The mixture of mako and the fairy, made the fairy immortal, Cloud can cure whenever he likes"  
"Cool! that means he's a walkin' materia" said Yuffie, contemplating the possibilities.  
"More than that" said Barret grinning "It meand Cloud's a giant fairy!" The group laughed at this, and Zelda walked over to Stilfire. He had the third Tri-force piece in his hands. He looked up and said "Oh! I believe this belongs to you" He offered it to Zelda, but she shook her head. "No I want you to have it, you're a brave warrior, and if one person deserves it the most, it's you" Stilfire smiled, and the Triforce piece faded, and began glowing on the back of his hand.  
As the group began to go, Sephiroth picked up the Black materia. A pain rang through his head, and he heard Jenova say "Sephiroth, please, help your mother,. I've been trapped in this materia, just call my name and I'll be free!" Sephiroth fought to keep her name out of his head, and said "Go to hell!" He threw the materia in the air, and unsheathed his sword, cutting though the materia like a hot knife through butter. "You're not my mother, and you never will be!" he said, now calm and in contol. The Black materia's colour or absence of colour faded, and went white, before shrivilling into nothing.  
Jenova and Ganondorf were now trapped forever in the dark realms, a fitting end for two of the most powerful beings in the universe.

**The epilogue **

The rest of Avalanche going to Clouds homeworld said farewell to Zelda, Link and Stilfire.  
"Good luck" said Aeris.  
"We'll come and see you sometime" said Cloud.  
"May the gods be with you" said Sophitia.  
Those getting back on board the rocket were Cid, Nanaki and his new mate Aenisa, Sephiroth, Aeris, Cloud, Tifa, Forest who had decided to stay with Yuffie, Mitsurugi, who had become good freinds with Cloud and Sephiroth, Vincent, Taki, Reeve, Sophitia who believed it her destiny to stay with Reeve, Paul and Barret.  
"I wonder if Jin'll ever get to know Xiaoyu a bit more" said Tifa when Cid had landed the rocket.  
"Jin and Xiaoyu, no way!" said Forest.  
"Yeah but did you see the way they looked when we were fighting those zombies?!"  
"Whatever happens" said Yuffie, sitting remarkably close to Law.  
"I'm wondering what happened to Voldo" said Cid smoking his cigar "We never actually killed him"  
"He's not a threat" said Mitsurugi "I can defeat him, no problem!"

**********

Voldo laughed in his evil, deep voice, as he surveyed the destruction he and Seigfreid had done. He had revived Seigfreid from the dead, making him purely evil, and he had destroyed a village which was said to have a mystical sword guarded by a demon known as Rothares. Which taki the demon hunter, who had disappeared, defeater. Seigfreid had taken the sword, and now it was time for Voldo's plan to begin.

**The end . . . or is it? **


End file.
